Queen Elizabeth's Hilarious Reaction to Crossbow-Wielding Intruder: "That Would Have Put a Damper on Christmas"

Queen Elizabeth was beloved by the world for a variety of reasons, her sense of humor included. From her hilarious one-liners and her quick-witted comment in interviews to making jokes about herself when mistaken as a commoner, the late monarch incited laughter on a regular basis.

According to a new report, she even exhibited her sense of humor when a crossbow-wielding intruder approached Windsor Castle with the intention of killing her, which occurred during the holiday season. Keep reading to learn more— and to explore the secrets of the Royal Family, don't miss these Biggest Royal Romance Scandals of All Time.

Royal insider Gyles Brandreth writes about the Queen's famously unique sense of humor in his soon-to-be-released book, Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait, in an excerpt published in the Daily Mail this week. In it, he explains how the Queen was always able to take "the possibility of being in the firing line in her stride."

Last Christmas, the Queen's final holiday season, "a masked and hooded intruder wielding a crossbow approached a police officer in the grounds of Windsor Castle and announced he had come 'to kill the Queen,'" writes Brandreth, who was a close friend and biographer of the Royal Family. The intruder was subsequently arrested and charged under the 1842 Treason Act.

Later, when the Queen was informed of the incident, she had a hilarious reaction to it. Instead of being scared, "she said to one of her team in the Windsor Covid 'bubble': 'Yes, well, that would have put a damper on Christmas, wouldn't it?'" King Charles, Queen Consort Camilla, and other family members were also present at the time, according to Brandreth. 

It was the Queen's "wry, dry, humorous way of looking at things" that was so impressive to Brandreth. "The fun of spending time with the Queen was both finding out how much fun she was and discovering unexpected things about her," he writes. 

"She really could sing 'When I'm cleaning winders' and the other songs George Formby sang to his banjolele when she was growing up during the war – and with Formby's authentic Lancashire accent, too. (She was the Duke of Lancaster, after all.)" Brandreth added.