One of Queen Elizabeth II's early morning walks nearly cost her her life!
An ex-guardsman spoke with U.K's The Times this week and opened up about how he mistook Her Majesty for an intruder on the royal property.
According to the guard, the Queen sometimes struggles to sleep, and thus, she'll put on a jacket and take a walk around the palace grounds in the wee hours of the morning. However, one day, around 3 a.m. the guard saw a peculiar figure walking through the darkness while he was on patrol inside the palace walls.
He said he shouted, "Who's that?" And to his surprise, he discovered it was the Queen. In a fit of relief, he couldn't help but blurt out, "Bloody hell, Your Majesty, I nearly shot you!"
After realizing he spoke out of turn, he waited to be scolded. However, he said the Queen simply replied, "That's quite all right. Next time I'll ring through beforehand so you don't have to shoot me."
Meanwhile, the Queen's well-being has been a major headline over the last couple of weeks. She and her husband Prince Philip fell ill with a heavy cold right before Christmas and had to postpone their holiday plans to travel to Sandringham by train. Though they were eventually transported by helicopter, they were both still ill.
A week later, H.M. continued battling her cold and was forced to miss her New Year's Day church service.
"Her Majesty The Queen will not attend Sunday worship at Sandringham today," Buckingham Palace said in a statement on New Year's Day. "The Queen does not yet feel ready to attend church as she is still recuperating from a heavy cold."
Her lack of attendance during the holidays incited an online death hoax last week, which the Palace quickly shut down, noting she's "recovering" from her illness and is "feeling better."