Queen Elizabeth's happy staff

Broadcaster Andrew Marr found Britain's Queen Elizabeth to be surrounded by a "lot of laughter" and her Ladies in Waiting say they are in the "happiness business".

Ladies in Waiting for Britain's Queen Elizabeth say they are in the "happiness business".

Broadcaster Andrew Marr has followed the monarch for a documentary to mark her Diamond Jubilee in June and says he found there was always a "lot of laughter" around her.

He recalled: "When a dress designer arrived from Scotland, determined to measure her in person, she entered cheerfully into the spirit of it, sticking out her limbs - 'leg out!', 'arm out!'. There's a lot of laughter.

One of her Ladies in Waiting told me, as they entered another civic hall to shrill cheering, 'We're in the happiness business.' "

In making the documentary, 'Diamond Queen', Andrew found most people to praise the queen as "witty" and a clever conversationalist.

He added to Radio Times magazine: "I found very many people - politicians, civil servants, friends of the family - talking at length about how witty the queen is.

"[Politician] Douglas Hurd pointed out how clever she was at nudging conversations that were becoming tricky onto a different track with hardly anyone noticing."