QUEEN OF QUIPS
Queen, 96, shows her funny side as she shares hilarious quip when phone rings on surprise visit
THE QUEEN today showed her funny side by making a hilarious quip when a mobile phone rang as she officially opened a £22 million hospice building.
The 96-year-old monarch was joined by her daughter Princess Anne on a surprise visit to open a new centre at the Thames Hospice.
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The monarch - who has suffered intermittent mobility problems - travelled the short distance from her Windsor Castle home to Maidenhead.
There, she toured the hospice - meeting staff, volunteers and a patient.
Just as she was introduced to Graham White and his wife Pat, who has stage 4 cancer and is receiving respite care at the centre in Maidenhead, his phone rang and he reached into his pocket to turn it off.
The Queen quipped: "Typical, a phone goes off immediately", and Mr White sheepishly said it was his son ringing.
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Mrs White sat as she chatted to the Queen, who stood and leaned on her now familiar walking stick, and afterwards the 63-year-old described the encounter as "very emotional", adding: "This is a memory that I will treasure."
She joked about her husband's phone ringing, saying: "I could have killed him! People think the Queen is all stiff upper lip but she has a sense of humour."
Mr White, 67, from Sandhurst, Berkshire, said: "I turned my wife's phone off and I could have sworn mine was off - that was a bit embarrassing."
His wife said: "The Queen said the building is beautiful and she showed a keen interest in the different treatments for cancer, and hoped the new building would help support all the cancer patients here.
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For more than 30 years Thames Hospice has been providing palliative and end-of-life care and support to people across East Berkshire and South Buckinghamshire.
Its services are free for those who need care, and more than 50 per cent of the £13 million annual running costs come from charitable support.
On Tuesday, the Queen awarded NHS heroes with the George Cross at a special Windsor ceremony.
And she was spotted making her guests laugh before Prince Charles then stepped in to congratulate them for the honour.
'COURAGE, COMPASSION AND DEDICATION'
The royals have teamed up to recognise the NHS for its "courage, compassion and dedication", particularly during the pandemic.
Guests at Tuesday's event included NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard and her counterparts from NHS Scotland and NHS Wales, Caroline Lamb and Judith Paget.
A frontline worker from each of the home nations also attended.
May Parsons, the nurse who delivered the world's first Covid-19 vaccine outside clinical trials to Margaret Keenan in December 2020, was among them.
The award of the George Cross by the Queen is made on the advice of the George Cross Committee and the Prime Minister.
Tuesday marked the third occasion on which it has been awarded to a collective body, country or organisation, rather than an individual.
In a message sent on on Windsor Castle-headed paper last July, on the 73rd anniversary of the NHS's foundation, the Queen wrote: "It is with great pleasure, on behalf of a grateful nation, that I award the George Cross to the National Health Services of the United Kingdom.
"This award recognises all NHS staff, past and present, across all disciplines and all four nations.
"Over more than seven decades, and especially in recent times, you have supported the people of our country with courage, compassion and dedication, demonstrating the highest standards of public service.
"You have our enduring thanks and heartfelt appreciation."
";This award recognises all NHS staff, past and present, across all disciplines and all four nations.
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"Over more than seven decades, and especially in recent times, you have supported the people of our country with courage, compassion and dedication, demonstrating the highest standards of public service.
"You have our enduring thanks and heartfelt appreciation."
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