Queen Elizabeth’s Mischievous Side Came Out When “Things Went Wrong” at Royal Engagements, Longtime Aide Remembers

During her long life, Queen Elizabeth was the walking definition of stoic—but behind closed doors, away from royal duty, Her late Majesty is said to have had a rollicking sense of humor and to have been quite mischievous. Case in point? Samantha Cohen, who Tatler called a “much beloved aide” of the late Queen’s who worked for her for 18 years, revealed that the Queen “loved it when things went wrong” at royal engagements because it “spiced her life up.”

“The Queen had no ego,” Cohen told The Herald Sun, an Australian newspaper, in a new interview. “She was so comfortable in herself, yet she loved it when things went wrong. If a cake was not cutting, or a plaque didn’t unveil, because everything was so perfectly organized—it spiced her life up when things went wrong.”

Cohen said that the Queen referred to her as “Samantha Panther” because of her ruthless work ethic and laser focus; during her time at the Palace, she helped the royal family set up its YouTube account in 2007, which the Queen was all for: “We did a mockup and showed the Queen what YouTube was,” Cohen said. “She said, ‘Fantastic.’ She was up for it.”

Cohen was so close to Her late Majesty, in fact, that she was invited to bring her family to Balmoral—the late Queen’s favorite place in the world, a castle in the Scottish Highlands where the royal family retreat in the summertime—and also to Sandringham at Christmas, which Tatler called “an amazing privilege enjoyed by very few.” Of her relationship with the Queen, Cohen said “the Queen and I used to talk a lot,” and added “I miss her. She was a special woman.” 

The Herald Sun reported that Cohen saw the monarch almost every day for nearly a decade and even had her own bedroom at Windsor Castle. “I loved, loved, loved the job as the Queen’s assistant private secretary,” Cohen told the outlet. “They were happy times, because the Queen was in great form.”

Cohen—who is from Australia—said that her “best times” with Queen Elizabeth were on two royal tours Down Under, one in 2002 with the Queen and Prince Philip and again in 2011. Eighteen years after she first joined its ranks in 2001, Cohen left the Royal Household in 2019 and went on to work for the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, where one of her main initiatives was The Queen’s Green Canopy—a tree-planting project designed to celebrate the 2022 Platinum Jubilee. Of her work there, Cohen said “It was my gift to the Queen.”

After Queen Elizabeth died at Balmoral on September 8, 2022, Cohen attended her committal service at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. “Windsor was her home, and she loved being there,” she told People at the time. “She died in her favorite place and was laid to rest in her favorite place alongside her husband and other members of her family. It felt really strange to be in Windsor without her as you’d see her everywhere. It was her home, where she would drive around, or be riding her horse. It feels odd to be there without her.”