>The real Princess Elizabeth, now the Queen, served in the Women's Auxiliary >Territorial Service as a mechanic and truck driver. (Which rather puts in
>perspective all those younger heads of state being a bit patronizingly
>nice to the old lady at the anniversary do's in Normandy last year.)

I just stumbled across fun anecdote about HRH's driving talents, which were put to good use "entertaining" another monarch recently in the news, Saudi Arabia's King Abudullah. Article is here, but the gist of it is, Abdullah visited the UK in 2003 and Elizabeth II took him to visit Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and she insisted on doing the driving herself, at what were apparently terror-inducing speeds.

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."