She said what?!’ Alan Titchmarsh recalls rude joke Queen made at his investiture

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Alan Titchmarsh has retold the story of the late Queen Elizabeth joking about “giving a lot of ladies a lot of pleasure” during his investiture for his MBE at the turn of the millennium. Speaking to the BBC on Monday as the Queen was driven in the state hearse to St George’s Chapel in Windsor, where she will be laid to rest alongside her parents, sister and husband Prince Phillip, Mr Titchmarsh recounted how he had told his wife he would like the late monarch’s quote put on his headstone when he died. 

Mr Titchmarsh said: “When I came to my investiture in June, I wondered if she would say anything and I went up and she said, ‘Are you busy?’ 

“I was a bit disappointed because it was a bit general but she does see a lot of people. 

So, I told her what I was doing, television and writing, and at the end her hand came out and she shook my hand and she said, ‘Well, you give a lot of ladies a lot of pleasure.’

“Well, I did not really realise until somebody came up to me and asked what she said and then, when I repeated what she had said, they said, ‘What?’ 

Alan Titchmarsh shares a hilarious moment about his investiture from the Queen (Image: BBC )

“I was going back in the car with my wife and I said to her, ‘You know, I can’t make up my mind whether to be cremated or buried. 

“‘Because I would like a headstone that says Alan Titchmarsh 1949 to whenever. ‘He gave a lot of ladies a lot of pleasure.’ ELizabeth R’. Forgive me Ma’am.” 

Mr Titchmarsh was a longtime friend of the Queen, both sharing a love of horticulture. 

On Monday, he wrote in The Daily Telegraph about his many meetings with her and her knowledge of plants. 

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Referring to a rainbow he saw on the day of the Queen’s death, he wrote: “You can call it a coincidence; you can call it chance, you can call it what you will, but to celebrate the life and the reign of the longest-serving British monarch, on these occasions even the weather showed its respect. 

“I shall gaze upon our now towering palm tree on the Isle of Wight and remember with great affection one of the most remarkable human beings it has ever been my pleasure to meet.”

Stories about the humour of the Queen have been told far and wide since her death on September 8. 

And the extent of affection for the Queen vocalised by people across the UK is testament to how beloved she was as a monarch. 

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In further evidence of how highly the Queen was regarded, people queued for hours on South Carriage Drive and elswhere along the procession route in a bid to see the Queen’s coffin on Monday. Many had tried to line the funeral procession route but were unable to gain access.

Jonathan and Heidi Johnson, both 73, from Worthing, stood for four hours to catch a glimpse of the coffin.

Mrs Johnson said: “I felt it was our duty to come. We have had another monarch but she has been our Queen since we were three.

“I have plates with her picture on and have followed her. I thought she was wonderful.” Mr Johnson added: “She did us proud.”

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