--- title: Queen Elizabeth Plays With Elephants, Feeds Them Bananas description: Queen Elizabeth II paid a visit to the Whipsnade Zoo outside of London where she and Prince Phillip played with elephants. canonical: https://time.com/4734688/queen-elizabeth-elephants/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-11T18:39:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:42:43.372Z og:title: Watch Queen Elizabeth Play With Elephants, Feed Them Bananas og:description: As one does og:url: https://time.com/4734688/queen-elizabeth-elephants/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc979ca1584fbc03/6988c250196cf4580603f9f6/queen-elizabeth-feeds-elephants.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Queen & Duke Of Edinburgh Visit Bedfordshire og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Queen Elizabeth Play With Elephants, Feed Them Bananas twitter:description: As one does twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc979ca1584fbc03/6988c250196cf4580603f9f6/queen-elizabeth-feeds-elephants.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Queen Elizabeth II Dutifully Play with Elephants and Feed Them Bananas  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Apr 11, 2017 6:39 PM UTC  DUNSTABLE, ENGLAND - APRIL 11: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh feeds Donna the elephant during the opening the new Centre for Elephant Care at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo on April 11, 2017 in Dunstable, United Kingdom. (Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage) DUNSTABLE, ENGLAND - APRIL 11: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh feeds Donna the elephant during the opening the new Centre for Elephant Care at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo on April 11, 2017 in Dunstable, United Kingdom. (Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage)Karwai Tang—WireImage  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Apr 11, 2017 6:39 PM UTC The elephants at the Whipsnade Zoo outside of London got a special honor when [Queen Elizabeth II](http://time.com/4297754/queen-elizabeth-ii-surprising-facts/) paid a visit to the zoo on Tuesday morning. The queen was at the zoo to open the Center for Elephant Care, which will house the zoo’s nine Asian elephants, one of whom she befriended during the ceremony. The queen appeared to have a special connection with the elephants, especially a young one named Donna, who she fed bananas and played with during her time at the zoo. Her husband [Prince Philip](http://time.com/4555148/queen-elizabeth-prince-philip-marriage-crown-netflix/) also got in on the fun, feeding Donna a banana of his own. It should come as no surprise that the queen got along swimmingly with the elephants, as [she’s a noted animal lover](http://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/429318/It-s-not-just-the-Queen-s-corgis-the-royal-family-has-an-animal-kingdom) — most notably with [her beloved Corgis](http://time.com/4352389/queen-elizabeth-vanity-fair-cover-corgis/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4734688/queen-elizabeth-elephants/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4734688/queen-elizabeth-elephants/"},"headline":"Watch Queen Elizabeth II Dutifully Play with Elephants and Feed Them Bananas","datePublished":"2017-04-11T18:39:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:42:43.372Z","description":"As one does","url":"https://time.com/4734688/queen-elizabeth-elephants/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Queen Elizabeth II","royals","Culture","queen elizabeth","british royal family"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc979ca1584fbc03/6988c250196cf4580603f9f6/queen-elizabeth-feeds-elephants.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbc979ca1584fbc03/6988c250196cf4580603f9f6/queen-elizabeth-feeds-elephants.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Queen & Duke Of Edinburgh Visit Bedfordshire","caption":"The Queen & Duke Of Edinburgh Visit Bedfordshire","creditText":"Karwai Tang—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4734688/queen-elizabeth-elephants/","name":"Watch Queen Elizabeth II Dutifully Play with Elephants and Feed Them Bananas"}}]}] ```