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    Royal Relative Reveals What Made Queen Elizabeth "Rather Irritated" and Caused Her to Cancel an Official Engagement During Balmoral Trip

    "She looks at me over her glasses with a glint in her eye."

    Amy Mackelden's avatar
    By Amy Mackelden
    Published 20 August 2025 In News

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    Queen Elizabeth II has pursed lips and white hair and looks very annoyed
    (Image credit: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
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    Queen Elizabeth II was beloved for a plethora of reasons, from her wicked sense of humor to her impressive reign, which spanned seven decades. According to one member of the Royal Family, the late Queen wasn't a fan of her hunting trip at Balmoral being interrupted by what she viewed as needless bureaucracy.

    As well as being a winning contestant on The Traitors, Lord Ivar Mountbatten is King Charles's second cousin. During an appearance on the podcast "Rosebud with Gyles Brandreth," Mountbatten reflected on an incident involving a trip to visit Queen Elizabeth at the Balmoral Estate in Scotland.

    As reported by the Express, before he could board the plane, Mountbatten was "informed...that the hold was accessible from the cabin and thus his guns would not be secure." In an attempt to persuade the airline to allow him to fly with his guns, the royal revealed that he said, "The Queen's sending me a car and she's expecting me for tea." Unfortunately, his plea didn't work.

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    Mountbatten traveled to Scotland without "his firearms," which "were stored in the police armory at the airport" in Bristol, the Express reported. The reality star recounted Queen Elizabeth's "rather irritated" reaction upon discovering he hadn't been able to travel with his guns for their hunting trip.

    Queen Elizabeth wearing white coat and hat walking down a red carpet

    Queen Elizabeth wasn't impressed by the airport's security measures.

    (Image credit: Getty Images)

    Mountbatten further explained that Elizabeth tasked her equerry with collecting the guns from Bristol Airport. According to the royal, Queen Elizabeth instructed her staff, "I would like Lord Ivar's guns to be up here tomorrow morning. Please see to it." Mountbatten continued, "Whereupon she turns back to me and she looks at me over her glasses with a glint in her eye and she says, 'They want me to open their new terminal.' She says, 'I don't think I will now.'"

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    Balmoral Castle's rose garden on a sunny day

    Balmoral Castle.

    (Image credit: Getty Images)

    The star of The Traitors also revealed that, whenever he does return to Bristol Airport, he has "a quiet laugh" to himself about the late Queen's hilarious reaction to his guns being confiscated.

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    Weekend Editor

    Amy Mackelden is the weekend editor at Marie Claire, where she covers celebrity and royal family news. She was the weekend editor at Harper’s BAZAAR for three years, where she covered breaking celebrity and entertainment news, royal stories, fashion, beauty, and politics. Prior to that, she spent a year as the joint weekend editor for Marie Claire, ELLE, and Harper's BAZAAR, and two years as an entertainment writer at Bustle. Her additional bylines include Cosmopolitan, People, The Independent, HelloGiggles, Biography, Shondaland, Best Products, New Statesman, Heat, and The Guardian. Her work has been syndicated by publications including Town & Country, Good Housekeeping, Esquire, Delish, Oprah Daily, Country Living, and Women's Health. Her celebrity interviews include Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Chastain, the cast of Selling Sunset, Emma Thompson, Jessica Alba, and Penn Badgley. In 2015, she delivered an academic paper at Kimposium, the world's first Kardashian conference.

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