Queen Elizabeth Used to Send Secret Messages to Her Staff Using Her Purse

No shade, this is truly iconic.

Between being the longest-reigning monarch in British history and a fashion aficionado, Queen Elizabeth II was nothing short of legendary. And to add to it, the royal, who died in September 2022, had an amazing party trick that easily tops any social exit strategy: The queen would use her sense of style to give her staff sartorial clues that she was over it. What an icon.

The queen would use her fabulous and expansive handbag collection—perhaps petty purse is a better term—to warn her team that she was done with a conversation or that she wanted to leave an engagement, The Mirror reports.

Elizabeth had a few specific gestures in rotation that she would flash to her team so they could help her. Royal expert Hugo Vickers previously revealed that if Elizabeth shifted her purse from one hand to the other, that meant she was ready to be done with the conversation she was in. When she was over the gathering entirely, Elizabeth would place her bag on the table, signaling that she wanted to leave in the next five minutes.

It wasn't just purses that she used when sending signals. To give the message a sense of urgency, the queen would twist her wedding ring when she really wanted to escape an interaction quickly.

"As a woman who was reportedly rather shy by nature, no doubt the endless conversations she had over the years could feel quite wearisome at times, leaving her longing for solitude with her beloved corgis," the outlet wrote. "And, of course, like all of us, Her Majesty would have undoubtedly encountered a few awkward encounters in her time.”

Elizabeth's favorite bags were from Launer London, and Vogue previously reported that the queen rarely went anywhere (including the sofa to watch TV) without them. Gerald Bodmer, the CEO of Launer, previously told the publication that the queen never felt fully “dressed without a bag." Forget security blanket, the queen had a security bag.

Do other royals have secret messages, you might ask? Well, the The Mirror notes that while “it’s unclear whether or not other royals have their own personal codes,” Kate Middleton is believed to be following in Elizabeth's fashionable footsteps by using her clutch in social settings. Royal expert Myka Meier previously told Good Housekeeping that Middleton holds onto her handbag with both hands when she's avoiding shaking hands.

“When the [then] Duchess is at an event, she holds her bag in front of her in both hands, when shaking hands might be awkward,” Meier said.

Etiquette coach William Hanson also told the The Daily Express that, “By holding something like her clutch bag, it is perhaps giving her an ‘excuse’ to not extend her hand to everyone. She can’t shake the hands of everyone she meets—the duchess [now princess] would be there all day!”

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