Your trusted source

FEW accessories are more iconic than Queen Elizabeth’s handbag – but what does the royal keep inside?

Thankfully the mystery may have been solved, as royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith lifted the lid on the hidden contents, The Sun reports.

Sally, author of Elizabeth the Queen: The Woman Behind The Throne, said Her Majesty, 93, keeps her reading glasses, mint lozenges and a fountain pen in her famous Launer-branded bags.

And she may be one of the richest women in Britain, but the Queen only carries cash on Sundays.

She is said to carry a "precisely folded" £5 or £10 to be placed in the church donation, and it is rumoured one of her butler's even irons the note into a little square.

Sally also claims that the Queen is never without her Clarins lipstick and a small mirror, so she can apply on the go if she needs.

Sally wrote: “At the end of a luncheon or a dinner, even a banquet set with silver gilt and antique porcelain, she has the somewhat outré habit of opening her bag, pulling out a compact and reapplying her lipstick.

Royal expert Phil Dampier told Fabulous Digital that the bag also contains an array of good luck charms.

These include photos of her family, mints, crosswords from the papers, a fountain pen (she "frowns upon biros"), and a metal make-up case given to her by Prince Philip as a wedding gift.

Phil said: "Add in a mirror, diary and address book, sunglasses, reading glasses, and, like any good Girl Scout a penknife, and it is obvious why no ordinary size bag will do."

He advised that she probably carries around her iPhone in the bag too - which she mainly uses to take photos when in the countryside at Balmoral.

And her bag also has another function – as the Queen uses it to send signals to her staff.

The monarch places her famous handbag on a chair if she wishes to have a prolonged chat with a guest.

However, if she moves her bag to the floor, this would signal she wishes her staff to end the conversation promptly.

At dinner and lunches, if the bag is placed on the table it means she would like to end the event in five or so minutes.