Queen Elizabeth II cracks jokes, reveals new statue, in call with SA premier and governor

The Queen has cracked jokes with Premier Steven Marshall and Governor Hieu Van Le in a special video call.

The Queen has joked about a life-size bronze statue of herself installed at Government House last year, in a video chat with Governor Hieu Van Le and Premier Steven Marshall.

Buckingham Palace this morning released an edited version of a conversation between the 94-year-old monarch, Mr Marshall and Mr Le, which took place last week and was revealed in Off the Record.

Robert Hannaford, the artist who designed the statue and held a 30-minute sitting with the Queen at Windsor Castle for the commission, also joined in the audience, telling the monarch it was a “great honour” to present the statue.

The Queen on the video call with artist Robert Hannaford, Governor Hieu Van Le and Premier Steven Marshall.

“I would think possibly it might be quite alarming to suddenly see it out of the window,” the Queen joked after seeing footage of the statue.

“You’d think, ‘Gracious, has she arrived here unexpectedly’!”

The Queen was also given a smaller version of the sculpture – known as a maquette – to which she remarked: “That’s very kind. I’m glad it’s not quite as big as the original.”

Mr Le and Mr Marshall seemed a tad overawed as they chatted with the Queen.

However, she lightened the mood when shown an image of the life-size statue, which included her famous handbag.

Mr Le said that the statue of the Queen was a magnet for selfie-takers.

The Queen, dressed in pink, laughed and said: “Oh, really”.

The statue is the third of the monarch in Australia, joining those installed in the grounds of Parliament House in Canberra and Government House in Brisbane.

The new statue. Picture: Tom Roschi/Buckingham Palace via Getty Images

Mr Le and Mr Marshall also told the Queen of how South Australia had responded to coronavirus, the vaccine rollout and the effect of bushfires and drought on the state.

Mr Marshall told the Queen how Adelaide was “almost back to a sense of normality” as he praised emergency services and the people of South Australia for sticking to the rules.

The Queen backed the response of the South Australians.

“That sounds very good and it must be encouraging that you can all get together too,” she said.

She ended the call by saying: “I’m very glad to see you again, goodbye.”

The Queen remains Australia’s official head of state and has visited 16 times during her reign, which began in 1952.

She had a phone call with Prime Minister Scott Morrison in May to discuss Australia’s response to the pandemic.

And last week she encouraged people to get a coronavirus vaccine to help others.

The video was released as new concerns were raised about the Queen’s husband, The Duke of Edinburgh.

On Monday night Australian time, Prince Philip, 99, was moved to a new hospital after almost two weeks of treatment.

It also comes amid a flurry of publicity about the upcoming interview by US chat show queen Oprah Winfrey with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.

The second trailer for the special interview has just dropped, revealing the former royals’ “unbelievably tough” situation.

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