Although some people found Queen Elizabeth to be "dull" when it came to making conversation, the late monarch was also known for her wit and sense of humor. And Queen Elizabeth—who was a gifted mimic—couldn't help but poke fun at herself after she became the mid-20th-century version of a meme.
As detailed in Craig Brown's biography Q: A Voyage Around The Queen, the late Queen was giving her annual Christmas speech in 1953 when she uttered a fairly common phrase, "My husband and I..."
Queen Elizabeth had never said it before, and per the author, the phrase "was to pop up regularly in her speeches over the coming years." For some reason, "my husband and I" turned into "the stuff of comedy," with British comics routinely impersonating the late monarch and her upper-crust accent by saying, "May hesbend end Ay." In fact, it became "a catchphrase of the era," per Brown.
The Queen was made fun of so often for saying "my husband and I" that, "from the early sixties onwards, she and her speechwriters tried to avoid ridicule by changing it to 'Prince Philip and I,'" Brown wrote.
However, it was Queen Elizabeth "who had the last laugh." Per the royal biographer, the late Queen came up with a brilliant idea during a speech she gave at an event on her 25th wedding anniversary. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were attending a banquet held in their honor at the Guildhall in London when she stood up and said, "I think everybody really will concede that on this, of all days, I should begin my speech with the words, 'my husband and I.'"
Noting that the late monarch "staked her claim to ownership of the joke," Brown wrote that by including the line in her speech, the clever Queen was able to ensure that her joke—and not the original '50s line—is that one that people most remember.
