Britain's Queen Elizabeth loves to laugh with her grandchildren.

The monarch - who is celebrating 60 years on the throne this year - derives huge joy from her eight grandchildren and two great-granddaughters and loves to hear about their lives outside royal events.

Princess Eugenie - the 21-year-old daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson - revealed her grandmother loves to hear about her life as a student at university in Newcastle.

Speaking in the ITV1 special, 'Elizabeth: Queen, Wife, Mother', she said: "We talk about my Newcastle life and how I've got so many essays and things and she still goes, 'Aha,' [and] laughs at what I say, which is lovely."

When she isn't at college, Eugenie lives with her divorced parents and sister Beatrice at Royal Lodge in Windsor where Queen Elizabeth grew up and Eugenie admitted it must be difficult for Elizabeth to return there without her beloved late sister Princess Margaret.

She added: "When she comes back here she remembers her childhood.

"It must be so sad not to have Margaret around any more. I'm sure she's looking down, very proud of her sister."