There’s always been speculation about what ‘secret signals’ the late Queen Elizabeth II used when she was ready to leave an event.

Her Majesty the Queen died on September 8, 2022, aged 96, while surrounded by loved ones at Balmoral Castle, Buckingham Palace confirmed.

Over her 70-year reign, the Queen had to meet, greet, host and entertain thousands of people, which was probably fun when it’s Marilyn Monroe, Lady Gaga, Frank Sinatra and Barak Obama (all of whom Queen Elizabeth met). But it was potentially a little more trying when it was an overenthusiastic fan at one of her garden parties, or a stuffy ambassador boring on about their weekend plans with their significant other.

But, it turns out, the Queen had a strategy for exactly those kind of moments and it involved… applying her lipstick. Yep, really.

Following the death of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, many people who worked closely with her have been sharing their favourite anecdotes, including a former footman.

Ian Scott Hunter worked as a footman for the Queen for eight years, meaning he was able to pick up her little quirks and became familiar with mannerisms the general public might not pick up on.

Speaking on a special episode of Antiques Roadshow onboard the Royal Yacht Britannia, which ‘celebrated the reign and long life of Her Majesty the Queen’, he shared what the Queen would do to signal that she was ready to retire from an occasion.

The Queen was often spotted with a bright coloured lipstick, which tended to complement her equally vibrant outfits, but there was sometimes a reason for her applying it.

‘I believe there’s etiquette that ladies do not make their faces up in public,’ Hunter began.

‘But, she had her bag over the side and she would take her lipstick out and put it on with no mirror or anything, and that was a signal to the ladies that she was ready to leave.

‘So, of course, they would all get their bits and bobs together and Her Majesty stands up, so they’re all ready and prepared.’

So, when you look back at photos of Queen Elizabeth applying her lipstick in public, now you know what she might have been thinking!

Another signal the late monarch is thought to have used involved her handbag, something she was rarely seen in public without.

According to author and royal commentator Kristen Meinzer, who shared this information in Newsweek’s The Royal Report podcast, if the Queen swapped her purse from one arm to the other, she was signalling to her ladies-in-waiting that she wanted someone to come and interrupt the conversation.

Following her death, the Queen’s son immediately became King Charles III with his wife Camilla now Queen Consort.

King Charles was formally declared the new monarch in a televised broadcast.