How The Queen Tried To Hold Off Her ‘Cross’ Resting Face

A new biography on The Queen has revealed the lengths she once went to, to prevent her 'cross' resting face.

An extract from Ingrid Seward's The Queen’s Speech: an Intimate Portrait of the Queen in Her Own Words in yesterday's *The Times *revealed that during a trip to New Zealand in 1953 (the year of her coronation), The Queen had to make up to six spontaneous speeches a day.

Whilst she took on each with unwavering professionalism, she is said to have commented: 'It's awful — I've got the kind of face that if I'm not smiling I look cross. But I'm not cross. If you try to smile for two hours continuously it gives you a nervous tic. But the moment I stop smiling somebody will say, "Doesn't she look cross?"'

And so, as the book records, The Queen smiled until her face hurt.

Many will be able to sympathise with Her Majesty, for countless others suffer the 'affliction' – dubbed in recent years, 'bitchy resting face'. Indeed, in 2013, US comedian Taylor Orci's spoof video on the 'phenomenon' was so popular it reached audiences across the world, and now boasts almost 6.5million hits on YouTube.

Other figures in the public eye, such as Kristen Stewart and Victoria Beckham, also suffer from it and are often picked on for their normal 'glum' facial expressions. So much so, that in her 73 Questions for Vogue.com earlier this year, Victoria addressed the criticism head-on, explaining she's 'smiling on the inside' and tends not to do so outwardly because she has 'a responsibility to the fashion community'.

So The Queen can take comfort, at least, from the fact she is not alone – that, and in the knowledge that when she does genuinely smile, everyone comments on how happy she looks.