Queen's James Bond Olympic stunt a roaring success

Me, staring at the television: Of course it's the Queen, I'd know her anywhere. None of the lookalikes are as, well, as lookalike as that!

And at this stage of her fabulous, successful, rip-roaring Diamond Jubilee year, I'd have also believed that Her Majesty did indeed leap from a helicopter with James Bond, resplendent in salmon pink (her, not him) and parachute into the eye-popping Olympic arena writes Shirley Tart.

Except of course that as even as we were watching the once in even her lifetime sequence, so we saw the lady herself, lips twitching in a mischievous smile, trying not to deliver a massive, Olympic gold-sized grin as she and we watched her alter ego approaching earth.

So not only did she officially open the 2012 London Olympics, the Queen also provided one of the most memorable stunts of a quite spectacular evening.

And stunt it was. Is nothing off-limit for our 86-years old Monarch during this one amazing year? Not only has she already won millions more hearts as she has toured the country day after day – including Shropshire's party to remember at RAF Cosford – but at the weekend, she became the first Olympic winner in that incredible, transformed East London location.

Honestly, Your Majesty, what a sport you are!

And as the story of how the Queen became a Bond Girl unfolded, it became clear that she had kept a bumper-secret for ages.

That Daniel Craig's Bond really had turned up at the Palace, that the page who met him was the Queen's own man and the Corgis bustling round Craig's feet, were indeed the famous royal canines.

Then we came to Gary Connery. The stuntsman mad enough to become the first skydiver to reach earth safely without a parachute, who likes pretty frocks and was upset he couldn't keep this one, was an easy choice to dress up in an identical pink outfit and perform what is set to become the most famous helicopter leap in history, floating grandly down beneath a Union flag.

Gary and his compatriot (Mark Sutton, stuntsman for Craig) had secretly rehearsed for months before perfecting the act which was to be seen by billions around the world.

Word says that nobody enjoyed setting it up more than the Queen herself. And why not? This year has been the likes of which she has never seen before, even in a 60-year reign. She has made such an impact, won countless more hearts and had tremendous fun.

And when it came to fun, the weekend's most famous royal stunt topped the lot. At the first tentative suggestion, can't you just hear the combined cheering of our young generation of royals: Go, granny, go.

And by jove, our incomparable matriarch and Monarch did just that, beating all comers hands down before an Olympic starting pistol had been fired.

Watch this space, I'd say!