Queen: What the private monarch was like behind the doors of Buckingham Palace

A vision of grace and duty in public for more than 70 years, the Queen's constant presence and steady hand helped guide Britain through countless twists and turns. 

But behind the doors of Buckingham Palace the monarch was known as a no-nonsense, "intensely human, normal person" who once waded in to a break up a fight among the royal corgis.

She was also well-liked for her sense of humour, including posing for pictures with two American hikers in Scotland - the tourists oblivious to who she was.

'Wartime generation'

Former private secretary Robin Janvrin, who worked alongside the Queen for 20 years, said hers was a "life of service and a life of duty".

"She was of her generation, which was a wartime generation," he said.

"The sort of 'keep calm and carry on' philosophy was absolutely embedded in her, and I think this sense of duty came from growing up in that period in our history when people did do their duty endlessly and didn't boast about it or didn't parade it."

The Queen's day would include reading the newspapers in the morning and discussing them with her private secretary, including Mr Janvrin - who was in the role for more than seven years.

Another key part of her routine were the "red boxes": boxes of papers left for her attention every night.

"It would be back on our desk the next morning at eight o'clock," Mr Janvrin said.

"It was extraordinary how she did this day after day throughout her reign... always interested and always commenting."

But, life does not always go to plan, something as true for a monarch as anyone else.

"I can't remember how it started or what happened, but I do remember that suddenly there was a huge fight going on amongst a number of corgis," he said.

"She waded in and separated the offending two or three, who were really going for each other, and she was bitten in the process.

"But she sorted it out in a way in which I certainly wouldn't have attempted to do."

The Queen's soft power

Mr Janvrin believes the UK's ability to "punch above its weight internationally" owes something to the Queen's status and popularity.

He tells the story of her first meeting with Nelson Mandela, when the future president arrived uninvited to a dinner she was holding for heads of government.

"I say uninvited because he wasn't a head of a country delegation, he was head of a party.

"But there had been a misunderstanding. He arrived on the doorstep and I remember the Queen saying, 'Lay another place'… This was the moment she was going to meet this amazing, great man."

Her Majesty met dozens of foreign leaders, sometimes from countries with laws and cultures very different to Britain's.

Former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Sherard Cowper-Coles described her meeting with the then Crown Prince Abdullah at Balmoral.

In his book, Ever the Diplomat: Confessions of a Foreign Office Mandarin, he says she offered to take Abdullah around the grounds in the Land Rover.

"To his surprise, the Queen climbed into the driving seat, turned the ignition and drove off", he wrote.

"Abdullah was not used to being driven by a woman, let alone a Queen.

"His nervousness only increased as the Queen, an Army driver in wartime, accelerated the Land Rover along the narrow Scottish estate roads."

Her sense of humour

As well as her sense of duty, so many people praised her sense of humour.

Richard Griffin, her former royal protection officer, recounted an amusing episode in the Scottish hills when they met two hikers.

"The Queen would always stop and say hello, and it turned out to be two Americans on a walking holiday," he said.

"It was obvious from the moment they stopped - they hadn't recognised the Queen."

When she told the American gentleman she had been visiting the area for over 80 years, he asked her: "Surely you have met the Queen?"

She replied, motioning to Mr Griffin: "Well I haven't, but Dick here meets her regularly."

Before the protection officer could stop him, the American put his arm around him, pulled out a camera, and handed it to the Queen asking for a picture.

"And the Queen, bless her heart, takes the picture."

Mr Griffin suggests they swap places, and the Queen poses for a photograph.

Afterwards the Queen turned to him and said: "I'd love to be a fly on the wall when he shows his friends back in America those pictures when hopefully someone will tell him who I am."

Mr Griffin paid tribute to the monarch, recalling how she told a private secretary to arrange his retirement party at Buckingham Palace.

The former officer never expected her to personally attend, but sure enough when he arrived he was told a "little old lady" was coming.

"That was probably the greatest thrill of my career," he said.

How she viewed the media

Being in the public eye is not always easy for the Royal Family, not least during the tumultuous 1990s as well as recent difficulties with Prince Andrew.

"I think she had an understanding that the media were important in terms of her being able to be out and about and accessible to the public", Mr Janvrin said.

"I think anyone in public life would say that they feel unfairly treated by the press at times, so I don't think she was an exception to that.

"I think she felt it more for other members of her family who she felt were being unfairly treated."

An 'intensely human, normal person'

After being an ever-present part of British life for more than 70 years, the death of the Queen has only crystallised her place in her country's long history.

Lord Richards of Herstmonceux, former chief of the defence staff, described her as an "intensely human, normal person".

"(She) played an absolutely enormous role in our lives and did it so naturally and so beautifully," he said.

"I can't see how the likes of the Queen will reappear in a hurry."