The Queen was today inspecting vaults full of thousands of slabs of gold as she finally had her questioned answered on why nobody saw the financial crisis coming.
On a visit to the Bank of England the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh inspected some of the gold as they toured vaults full of thousands of slabs worth billions of pounds.
The royal couple then signed a million pound note each for the Bank's guest book.
She was also given an answer to the questioned she posed at the height of the global downturn, in November 2008, when she asked academics at the London School of Economics 'why did nobody notice it?'
She was today given a thorough answer from Sujit Kapadia, of the Bank's financial services committee, who gave her three reasons.
He told Her Majesty financial crises were like earhquakes and flu pandemics and, because they are rare events, they are difficult to predict.
He also said there was a new paradigm where people thought markets were efficient and risks could be managed better than before.
He told the Queen: 'People thought markets were efficient, people thought regulation wasn't necessary.
'Because the economy was stable there was this growing complacency. (Thirdly) people didn't realise just how interconnected the system had become.'
Her Majesty appeared quite interested in the discussion, asking what authorities were doing now to prevent another global downturn.
She remarked to workers: 'People got a bit lax... perhaps it is difficult to foresee (a financial crisis).'
When told by an employee that the men and women in the room were there to prevent another one, the Duke jokingly said: 'Is there another one coming?'
Mr Kapadia said the Queen was very interested in what the Bank was trying to do to prevent another crisis.
As The Queen signed a million pound note for the Bank's guest book, she was intrigued when she was shown the very first banknote she had signed for the guest book on November 29, 1937, as an 11-year-old.
The signature was a simple 'Elizabeth' written in a neat young girl's script on a thousand pound note in the book.
On signing the note today, the Queen said of her signature: 'It hasn't improved much you know.'
While waiting to sign his million pound note which was sitting on the table, the Duke joked: 'It's just lying about.'
It was the Queen's eighth visit to the Bank of England.
Bank Governor Sir Mervyn King said in an address: 'You will have seen today how much your visit has meant to all of us at the Bank.
'The people you met today are really the unsung heroes, the people that kept not just the banking system but the economy as a whole functioning in the most challenging of circumstances.
'And there would be no greater appreciation of their work than your visit here today.'
The royal couple were applauded by banking staff as they walked out of the building in central
London and the Queen was presented with flowers by two children of staff.
As the Queen walked out of the building towards a large crowd of people waiting outside, she said of her visit: 'Very interesting, isn't it?'
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