THE DAY I TOASTED THE QUEEN WITH A REMOTE TRIBE

FROM INDIANA Jonesstyle underground caverns to the Silk Roads of Azerbaijan, TV historian Bettany Hughes has packed in enough exploring for several lifetimes.

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And she remains amazed by the human kindness she comes across, recalling how a remote mystic sect she encountered on her latest travels offered their condolences – and a toast – to the late Queen Elizabeth.

Bettany was in deepest Albania when she came across members of the Sufi sect of Islam. She said: “We were welcomed by this remote group.

“We couldn’t have been made more welcome and, as it turned out, the Queen had just died. And these people, in this remote Sufi Bektashi community, all stood up and toasted the Queen.

“They said, ‘We’re sorry for your loss’. It really was a lovely moment.

“We hadn’t even mentioned it, either.

“They just sort of took it on themselves.

“They said, ‘So you must be sad. Let’s stand up and remember the Queen’.