GCHQ’s Cipher To Queen – Not “Philip’s Looking For The Car Keys”

Sadly GCHQ – the British bit of the spies that deals with codes, encryption and listening to people – didn’t take the opportunity to say something interesting to Brenda when she came to visit. Instead, they were boringly deferential:

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Spy agency GCHQ has sent a cryptic tweet to the Queen after she attended an event to mark 100 years of the intelligence agency, but are you able to crack it? The coded message which read “SVOOL BLFI NZQVHGB GSZMP BLF ULI XLNRMT, RG DZH Z TIVZG WZB” was sent from GCHQ’s account to the Royal Family’s after the Queen unveiled a plaque at Watergate House, the agency’s original headquarters. [/perfectpullquote]

As part of #GCHQ100, Her Majesty unveiled an historic plaque containing two secret, hidden messages – a nod to the code-breaking minds who established @GCHQ one hundred years ago.

Can you break the code below? ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/z2J17KVSwE

— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) 14 February 2019

All most fun except the message itself was pretty boring:

Did you break the code? It was encrypted using the Atbash cipher.

The original message was:
“Hello Your Majesty. Thank you for coming, it was a great day.”@RoyalFamily #GCHQ100 https://t.co/FhtyGYlnqi

— GCHQ (@GCHQ) 14 February 2019

There was also this:

The plaque unveiled today by Her Majesty The Queen contains two hidden codes. Can you identify them?@royalfamily pic.twitter.com/48fgRK0VE6

— GCHQ (@GCHQ) 14 February 2019

However, it would also have been possible to say something interesting. Entries are invited for what could have been said – add them down in the comments. The winner will gain public approbation, that thing beyond the price of rubies.