Queen Elizabeth II pokes fun at her height during public engagement

British diver Tom Daley recalls the joke the British monarch said about taking up gymnastics because of her height.

Queen Elizabeth II knows how to crack jokes even if it means poking fun at herself to make those around her laugh.

The British monarch may look stoic in public and rarely smiles for the camera, but she knows how to lighten the mood when the situation calls for it during public engagements. British diver Tom Daley can attest to this.

He recalled an encounter with Queen Elizabeth II in which she poked fun at her height. She is five feet and three inches tall. The 27-year old remembered meeting the royal back in 2016 and she had joked about trying her hand at gymnastics.

"She commented on her height compared to some of the other athletes in the room and because me and the other athletes were quite small, she said, 'Maybe I should try gymnastics,'" Daley recalled during an interview on Swedish chat show "Skavlan." He said Her Majesty "was fully game to get involved in the sport."

The exchange happened in Buckingham Palace when Queen Elizabeth II and her late husband Prince Philip hosted a reception for Daley and his fellow Olympians. Then in 2017, she shared her love for gymnastics again when she presented the MBE to double Olympic champion Max Whitlock. He remembered she told him that she loves "watching the gymnastics" because of the seemingly impossible things they do (the acrobatics) on the beam. He said it was "pretty cool to hear the queen say she likes the sport."

Queen Elizabeth II also knows how to make witty remarks even when faced with scandals. She made one during her first appearance after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle accused the palace of racism in their Oprah interview.

She was asked about her meeting with Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin during a virtual event to celebrate British Science Week in March. "Russian," she dead-panned, which made the other attendees laugh. She grinned and said that Gagarin did not speak much English when they met at Buckingham Palace in 1961. During the same virtual event, Queen Elizabeth II also joked about the meteorite that landed in Gloucestershire, England. She quipped, "I'm glad it didn't hit anyone!"