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Queen Elizabeth II was ‘very competitive’ during Pointless game, says Richard Osman

Armstrong played the quiz show at the Sandringham Women’s Institute in 2019

Isobel Lewis
Thursday 15 September 2022 12:15 BST
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The royal family exit Westminster Hall as Queen Elizabeth II lies in state

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Richard Osman has recalled the timePointless host Alexander Armstrong played a game of the quiz show with Queen Elizabeth II.

The royal, who died last week aged 96, was known to be a fan of the daytime quiz show, in which contestants are tested on obscure knowledge.

Appearing on Lorraine on Thursday (15 September), Osman recalled a time that host Alexander Armstrong was invited to the Sandringham Women’s Institute for a game of Pointless.

“He was invited up to see the Queen. I note I wasn’t invited,” he joked to Lorraine Kelly.

“He went up to Sandringham WI and he played a game of Pointless. There were two teams, the Queen was captain of one of the teams against a local woman from the village.”

Osman continued: “The Queen’s team won. [Armstrong] said she was very, very forthright in her opinions as to what answers they should give and, at the end, he presented her with a Pointless trophy.”

According to Armstrong, Osman said that the Queen was “apparently very competitive and very funny”.

“I was fuming the next day, because he kept it all secret,” he joked. “I was fuming that I hadn’t been invited.”

Armstrong was invited to meet the Queen in 2019
Armstrong was invited to meet the Queen in 2019 (Getty Images)

Alexander Armstrong said in 2017 that a “palace insider” told him the Queen first stumbled upon the show in the 2010s and became quickly hooked.

“A palace insider told us that she watches it,” he said while promoting the show’s 1,000th episode.

You can read more of Queen Elizabeth II’s favourite TV shows here.

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