Royal Anecdote: The Queen's Crown

 

In 1979, Lady Diana Cooper (then 86 years old) attended a special event to honor the 100th birthday of the musical benefactor Sir Robert Mayer at Covent Garden. During the interval, Cooper found herself chatting with "an extremely pleasant lady" who seemed vaguely familiar. 

After struggling through some general conversation, Cooper noticed that the woman was wearing magnificent diamonds and suddenly hit upon her identity.

 "I sank into a curtsey," she later recalled, "and said 'I'm terribly sorry, Ma'am, but I didn't recognise you without your crown on.' The queen, not batting a royal eyelid, said, 'Well, I thought it should be Sir Robert's evening.'"