We Finally Know What's Inside The Queen's Handbag

If you spot Queen Elizabeth in public, she will most likely have her trusty handbag by her side. Queen Elizabeth's preferred handbag brand is Launer, specifically the Royale and Traviata styles. The monarch reportedly owns more than 200 of these bags. With the average Launer bag costing more than $2,000, it's no exaggeration to say that Queen Elizabeth's handbag collection is worth a fortune.

The royal is rarely without one of her luxury handbags, and the habit comes in quite handy. Queen Elizabeth infamously uses her bag to signal to her staff when she's ready to stop talking to someone. While that's one good reason to tote a handbag around everywhere she goes, the queen also uses the bag in a more traditional way.

Royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith, author of Elizabeth the Queen: The Woman Behind The Throne, revealed in The Lady that among the contents of Queen Elizabeth's handbag are typically lipstick, a mirror, and a £5 or £10 bill to donate to the church collection on Sundays. She also carries around a portable hook, which she uses to hang her handbag under tables.

Bedell Smith relayed a story shared with her by Phil Brown, who once sat next to Queen Elizabeth at a luncheon and saw the inside of her handbag. "It was almost like a lady's prop with essential items," said Brown. "It had things that you would expect — make-up, (coin) purse, sweeteners she put in her coffee, the normal stuff. You expect that a lady-in-waiting would carry her handbag, but for the Queen, it was almost like a comfort blanket."

Bedell Smith said that, while Queen Elizabeth's ladies-in-waiting carry around things like extra gloves and safety pins, one of them said that the royal is too practical to leave necessities in the hands of someone else. "She needs a comb or lipstick or Kleenex, and if she hasn't got it, what does she do?" said the lady-in-waiting.

Other sundries that can be found in Queen Elizabeth's purse are reading glasses, mint lozenges, and a fountain pen.