Queen Elizabeth has a secret tunnel she can use to escape from the palace any minute

Queen Elizabeth's many royal estates have features that are not common knowledge to a layman. 

One such feature is a hidden tunnel right outside Windsor Castle that serves a gateway for the monarch to exit the palace in secrecry any minute!

Windsor Castle, in addition to being a working palace, was also a fortress, which means there are lots of secret passages and hidden former defences.

The secret tunnel is hidden beneath a trapdoor covered by carpet and revealed in detail in a 2011 BBC documentary The Queen's Palaces.

"As if by magic, just lift these and the medieval castle emerges. If you’re a soldier in Windsor Castle under siege you need a way to get out. And this is the secret passage," presenter Fiona Bruce says in the documentary.

“This is exactly what it looked like in the 1200s. It’s wide enough to accommodate a whole army of men. You can just imagine them rushing down the stairs, and it leads out onto the street. This is the clever bit - they’d then be able to sneak up on the enemy and attack them from behind," she adds. 

Check out the secret tunnel in pictures below