Queen Elizabeth II was known for being unfazed by things, and even as a child was said to be unusually mature for her age. However, it turns out that even queens have their bad days. One amusing and “violent” story about her childhood illustrates this.

The story was initially shared in royal nanny Marion Crawford's book The Little Princesses, but resurfaced in Craig Brown's new book, Q: A Voyage Around The Queen. In a chapter recalling episodes from Queen Elizabeth's childhood, Brown writes that the young Princess Elizabeth, as she was then known, did little wrong compared to her sister Princess Margaret, who was quite spry.

However, there was one occasion, however, when Elizabeth completely lost her temper.

In “Q,” Brown describes the relationship between Margaret and her governess, Crawford, whom Elizabeth called “Crawfie,” and writes that Princess Elizabeth “disobeyed him once” in her childhood.

Decades before books like Prince Harry's memoir, Spare, came out, Crawfie wrote a memoir of his time working with the young princesses that was controversial at the time. It was so controversial that she was forever shunned by the royal family. It was shockingly revealed that “Princess Elizabeth once poured ink on the head of a French teacher.

It is hard to imagine the late queen doing such a thing, and Brown wrote that the incident was “exceptionally surprising.” According to the story, Princess Elizabeth was taking French lessons with her teacher, “Mademoiselle,” when Clophie heard a “mysterious sound” coming from another room.

“I found poor Mademoiselle shattered to pieces and blinded with terror,” Crawford wrote, adding that “Lilibet suddenly rebelled and, driven by boredom, resorted to violent measures” and threw “a large ornamental silver ink pot” over the teacher's head. Truly horrifying.

Apparently, the nanny entered to find Mademoiselle sitting “with ink running down her face and her golden hair slowly turning blue.” Crawford admitted that she “never got to the bottom of what happened”

because the French teacher “forgot to explain” and was so overwhelmed that she “had to leave and drink water.”

Brown continued, “The rest of [Elizabeth's] life was careful, obedient, and compassionate,” making the inkpot incident all the more remarkable. Ironically, however, after Queen Elizabeth's death, the ink would again contribute to the tantrum.

As Brown adds in a footnote, Prince Charles famously threw a tantrum over a leaking pen ink five days after his mother died in September 2022. While signing books for visitors at Hillsborough Castle, the new king exclaimed, “I can't stand this bloody thing.” While Queen Camilla “calmly” signed her name, “It stinks every time!”

“I'm not going to stand for this bloody thing!

Perhaps he was channeling the energy of his mother's French lessons.