In Runet, a dialogue is popular, in which the famous playwright clearly demonstrates the female corruption of the Queen of Great Britain. We checked the reliability of these publications.

Usually, the conversation between the playwright and the queen is quoted as follows: “Once Bernard show said that all women are sold. The English Queen, having learned about this, asked Bernard: asked:
“Is it true, sir, that you say that all women are sold?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
- And me too? - the queen was indignant.
“And you, too, Your Majesty,” the show answered calmly.
- And how much am I standing?!
- Ten thousand pounds.
- What, so cheap?
“You see, Your Majesty, you are already trading.”

This dialogue can be found on Facebook (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), "VKontakte" Blogs And on entertainment sites.

Such posts do not say with which the queen the playwright spoke. Bernard show achieved the first success Under the queen of Victoria, and it could be assumed that we are talking about her, but the writer became truly famous after her death and ascent to the throne of Edward VII (starting with him and up to Elizabeth II Great Britain ruled Male monarchs). Information that the show was invited to any events with the participation of Queen Victoria was not preserved-by The opinion of researchers, she was generally unlikely to know about his existence. But the show himself always spoke about her with Petit and more than once publicly defended from criticism. At the same time, the playwright was more likely to critically and called himself a republican. Show repeatedly Refused From the entry into the Order of Merit, which is headed by the ruling British monarch (he also decides on new members). As for Queen Elizabeth II (often publications about the witty dialogue are accompanied by her photographs), then the show did not live to the reign of the show: he died in 1950, for Two years beforeHow Elizabeth ascended the throne.

Search by key phrases from the alleged dialogue of the show and the queen in English gives quite little results, and some of these publications are placed in Russian sources (For example, on the resources of language schools). But in English there is a similar dialogue in which a man asks a woman, she would have slept with him for some impressive amount (for example, for a million dollars). The woman responds with consent. "And for ten dollars?" The man asks. "For whom do you take me?!" - the woman is indignant. “Who are you, we have already found out,” the man says. “It remains to decide on the price.” This dialogue is sometimes given without names, sometimes attributed to the same Show, Sometimes - Winston Churchill, Oscar Wilde etc.

Quote Investigator project discovered The most early publication of this dialogue in the archive of The New York Post newspaper, in one of the June numbers of 1936. There he sounded like this:

“They say it happened to the Lord Beaverbruk and one visiting American actress. During the game of hypothetical questions, the Biverbrock asked the lady:
“Would you agree to live with a stranger if he paid you a million pounds?”
“Yes,” she answered.
- And if he paid five pounds?
The insulted lady broke out:
- Five pounds? Who do you take me for?
To which the Biverbroke calmly answered:
- Who are you - we have already found out. Now we are trying to determine the price. ”

In 1936-1937, this story with reference to The New York Post appeared in several American and Canadian newspapers. However, already in the 1940s, QUOTE Investigator found out, she began to spread without reference to the source and in a changed form: in some publications, the “race of American actress” turned into a “famous actress”; V a friend of the text The dialogue allegedly took place in court between a lawyer and a “pretty defendant”; In the 1960s, versions appeared where Lord Biverbrut was replaced by Churchill, writer Herbert Wells and US President Woodlon Wilson.

As for the option, in which the dialogue shook with the English queen, he, apparently, appeared immediately in Russian. According to data The National Corps of the Russian Language, it is mentioned in the collection of jokes of the 1970–2000s, as well as in the book of journalist Vladimir Shahijanyan “1001 Questions about this”, published in 1999.

Thus, Bernard Show did not prove to the English queen that all women were sold. This is a recycled historical joke, which was first published in the 1930s, and then his heroes were the British Lord Biverbrook and an nameless American actress.

Photo on the cover: Facebook screenshot