{"id":395685,"date":"2025-09-03T22:41:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T22:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/395685\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T22:41:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T22:41:11","slug":"royal-hijinks-heres-how-prince-harry-pranked-the-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/395685\/","title":{"rendered":"Royal Hijinks! Here’s How Prince Harry Pranked the Queen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queen Elizabeth and her grandson Prince Harry<\/a> had a close bond during most of her lifetime. The monarch and the fifth in line to the throne could often be seen giggling together, and it was obvious that they genuinely enjoyed each other\u2019s company.<\/p>\n

As Harry put it in an interview with People magazine, \u201cMy grandmother and I were very close, and we very much did have a special relationship,\u201d adding: \u201cI miss her dearly, as well as her cheeky sense of humor and quick wit.\u201d The bond they shared meant he also didn\u2019t shy away from pulling a prank on her\u2014and we love both his idea and her reaction to it!<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s forget for a minute how the royal family<\/a> drama unfolded following Harry\u2019s wedding with Meghan Markle (and their decision to quit \u201cThe Firm\u201d), and just celebrate the sweet relationship between \u201cgranny,\u201d as Harry called the queen, and the prince. Keep reading to find out all about this hilarious moment.<\/p>\n

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What prank did Prince Harry pull on Queen Elizabeth?<\/p>\n

Prince Harry pranked his grandmother by recording a cheeky voicemail message on her private cellphone. As Bryan Kozlowski revealed in his book Long Live the Queen: 23 Rules for Living from Britain\u2019s Longest-Reigning Monarch, the late monarch, like many of her age, relied on her grandkids to keep up with the latest technology.<\/p>\n

But maybe Harry wasn\u2019t quite the best person to trust in that regard!<\/p>\n

When the late queen<\/a> asked him to record a voicemail message for her, he sneaked off with her phone and returned with a message that would surely have left callers in stitches: \u201cHey, wassup? This is Liz! Sorry I\u2019m away from the throne. For a hotline to Philip, press 1; for Charles, press 2; for the corgis, press 3.\u201d<\/p>\n

The queen\u2019s private secretary, Robin Janvrin, was reportedly mortified, but the monarch herself, known for her good sense of humor, thought it was hilarious.<\/p>\n

When did Harry pull this prank on the queen?<\/p>\n

\"PrinceANWAR HUSSEIN\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, we don\u2019t know exactly where and when the incident happened. But according to media reports, Elizabeth was given her first cellphone in 2001, when Harry was in his mid-20s. So we guess it\u2019s safe to say that it probably happened around that time.<\/p>\n

It was the queen\u2019s son Prince Andrew who gifted Elizabeth<\/a> her first cellphone, apparently a Samsung. He thought she should have a personal phone to stay in touch with the rest of the family. In reality, though, it seems the queen took calls only from two people\u2014and Andrew wasn\u2019t one of them! The two lucky recipients were her daughter, Anne, and her racing manager, John Warren (remember, the queen was a huge fan of horse racing).<\/p>\n

Interestingly, the queen reportedly enjoyed texting but never quite warmed up to the apps.<\/p>\n

Did any of Queen Elizabeth\u2019s other relatives ever prank her?<\/p>\n

Very likely, but, unfortunately, the palace has done a great job at hiding it from the public. At least one funny story made it through, though: After Elizabeth\u2019s husband, Prince Philip, died, Prince William<\/a> revealed in a BBC interview how Philip and his grandchildren loved to pull a prank involving mustard tubes: \u201cHe (Prince Philip) enjoyed messing around with the children and being a grandfather. \u2026 He used to take the lid off and put it in your hands \u2026 and then he\u2019d squish your hands together to fire the mustard onto the ceiling.\u201d Peter Phillips, son of Princess Anne and brother of Zara Tindall, added with a grin that the mustard marks were probably \u201cstill there\u201d today.<\/p>\n

Unlike the kids, the queen wasn\u2019t a big fan of Philip\u2019s little game. \u201cHe used to get in a lot of trouble from my grandmother for covering most of the places we had lunch and things with mustard on the ceiling,\u201d William recalled.<\/p>\n

Did Queen Elizabeth ever pull pranks?<\/p>\n

Absolutely\u2014the British monarch could have doubled as the queen of pranks! One of our favorite examples? After Elizabeth died<\/a> in 2022, her former royal protection officer Richard Griffin told the world how she once pranked two American tourists she met near Balmoral Castle, her Scottish holiday home.<\/p>\n

The pair clearly didn\u2019t recognize the monarch in her casual clothes and headscarf, and chatted her up, asking where she lived and if she\u2019d ever met the queen. Elizabeth, according to Griffin, explained that she lived in London but liked to spend her days off in Scotland, then pointed to him and cheekily said while she personally hadn\u2019t met the queen, he had because he was a cop.<\/p>\n

One of the American hikers immediately handed his camera over to the queen and asked her to take a picture of him with her protection officer. We can only imagine the faces of the two hikers when they later found out who they\u2019d actually met that day (if they ever did)!<\/p>\n

Elizabeth didn\u2019t shy away from pranking her own husband either. In 1965, she surprised Philip by wearing a fake beard when he returned with a real one after months traveling around the Commonwealth. Years earlier, and before marrying her husband of over seven decades<\/a>, she sneaked out of Buckingham Palace with her sister, Margaret, and partied at the Ritz hotel in London, successfully pretending all night long to be a regular girl.<\/p>\n

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Why trust us<\/p>\n

Reader\u2019s Digest has published hundreds of stories on the British royal family, providing a behind-the-scenes look at the fascinating facets of the monarchy. We regularly cover topics including the latest royal news, the history and meaning behind time-honored traditions, and the everyday quirks of everyone\u2019s favorite family members, from Queen Elizabeth\u2019s daily snack to Prince William\u2019s confessions about his home life. We\u2019re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers\u2019 personal experiences where appropriate. For this piece on Prince Harry\u2019s prank, Astrid Hofer tapped her experience as a London-based journalist with more than 20 years of experience covering topics including the British royal family. Read more about our team<\/a>, our contributors and our editorial policies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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