Queen Elizabeth at the London Olympics opening ceremony in 2012
Britain's Queen Elizabeth would never have participated in the 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony if her mother had been alive, says former royal press secretary Dickie Arbiter.
The 88-year-old monarch took part in a hilarious sketch in which 'James Bond' actor Daniel Craig escorted her to London's Olympic Park in a helicopter before a stunt double pretending to be her parachuted out of the aircraft, but her former chief of press claims she never would have gone ahead with it if her mother had still been alive.
He explained to the Daily Express newspaper: "You've got the Queen taking on the mantle left by her mother when she died in 2002. She's pretty much Britain's favourite granny now. She's softer, more approachable."
Arbiter added: "I don't believe for a moment that James Bond sequence at the Olympics would have happened if her mother had been alive. Compared with 2002 she's a lot more colourful in her dress. The clothes are colourful, more stylish. She's more relaxed."
The television and radio commentator - who left his role as the royal family's press secretary in the year 2000 - thinks the Queen Mother had very specific ideas of what sort of monarch her daughter should be, constraining her daughter for much of her reign.
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