Transcription
What's your honest opinion of Andrew? Well, it's been great, Fan. Thank you so much for having me here today.
Um, oh wow. Um, so my interaction with him were very few and far between. And when I did have any dealings with him, in fairness to him, he was polite. You know, there would be a a kind of thank you or whatever. But there was also this feeling of, as a lot of people describe, entitled feeling. He thought he was better than everyone. Just his mannerisms and his the way he was. And what was weird for me was no other member of the family did you get that vibe from. Not from the queen, not from Prince Philip, not from uh his brother Charles, not from an none of them. But with him, he had this I can't even explain it to you. I just didn't want to be in his presence. I mean, you know, luckily I didn't have to do much for him and and as I said, I didn't have I remember being at again the wedding of um the king and queen and he was there and there were staff members there and he didn't speak to any of the staff members that were there as guests. He would only speak to the if you like the family or family friends. So, it's quite sad actually cuz I don't know why he was like that. But and and also, you know, from colleagues in the royal household, none of them ever have a nice thing to say about him. Um, and I always see the good in everyone. So, it's quite um it's quite sad. So, I think um what I'd say is he wasn't um put it this way, he wasn't one of the most popular royals.
The king's relationship with Andrew, did you ever see much evidence of a relationship? In in honesty, I don't ever, and this is just my personal view, I don't ever remember him being that close. I really don't. If you were to say to me, is the king close to any of his brothers and sisters? Yes, an absolutely Princess An. But I think as far as Andrew went, I didn't I didn't see much of him, and I didn't have many dealings with him, if that gives you an idea. So, and I'm sure now the king's probably quite maybe maybe the king always had a an inkling. Who knows? Maybe he had a a feeling. But no, he didn't have much to do. um you know not really that much to do with them other than obviously family get togethers and occasions when they had to obviously all we together but no they went I wouldn't have from a personal point of view I wouldn't have said they were particularly close.
What did you make of him getting arrested? When I saw him getting arrested it was a bit of a it was a shock because we haven't had a royal I don't think we've had a royal be arrested since the time of Charles the first. So it was it was unprecedented to actually see what took place and I think that's why the king had removed the titles and everything because I think the king knew what was coming. I honestly generally believe that the house the household you know they've got the contacts. Of course they have the contacts. They work with the government. Uh they work with the police. I mean the police protect them. So they're going to be aware 100% of what's coming. And definitely something had been obviously said for them to have made the the drastic measures they took. And it's probably good they took those measures, especially with what then took place.
Was the king always courteous and kind to you? Absolutely. He was always so polite. And he used to do things that used to kind of make me um they would make me smile. He he would sometimes for birthdays and Christmases he would he would sometimes leave little gifts with little notes for me. And it was ever so sweet because um he would try to think of things that I could use or come in handy. And it might make you laugh because I suppose everyone's going to think he's going to give you I don't know some amazing piece of I don't know collection from something amazing. But what I normally would find I remember one Christmas going in and he'd given me uh there was a locker there was um it was called pigeon holes and it was basically these doors and you could you open them you had all your pigeon holes your mail went and I remember this one day they you couldn't shut them. They will slightly open a jar and when I opened it there was a massive salt and pepper uh with a little note from the now king and he's he's basically said um I thought these would come in handy for your cooking. Well, he knew I couldn't cook. So obviously that was kind of his humor. So he was always very good like that and he was also very kind because um you know he also invited me to his wedding um when I shouldn't actually have gone technically. I I remember getting um invited by him which is because he felt sorry that I wasn't allowed to go basically because I wasn't I hadn't been there long enough and I was made aware that I wouldn't be invited. I couldn't go because I'd only done uh under a year and you had to have done over a year. And I'll never forget when I got a phone call from a from one of the senior secretaries to tell me that he was personally inviting me under friends and family, which is amazing. And that just shows you what kind of guy he is that he he wanted me to be there and only he could invite me was under friends and family. And I was so thrilled at the the prospect. Actually, to be honest with you, I was thrilled to be asked, but I was also more excited that he classed me as a friend of family. That's what went through my mind at the time. Um, so yes, he's a very, very kind man.
Did you consider him a friend? Um, interestingly, when you work for these families, there's a very fine line you've always got to remember. You've got to remind yourself that they're not your friends, that you're there. They pay you to be there. But in saying that, you do you do become close to them 100%. You do build up a a very strong bond, a strong relationship with them. You have a lot of respect for them. You've got a lot of time for them. You're willing to give your time, you know, most of the day to do what they need to be done. And yeah, I mean definitely you do um you do class them as as not just the royals, anybody I've some of them I've very much stayed in touch with. So you do class them as as friends. you do, but you've you've got to always remember though there is that fine line and at the end of the day you're there doing a job as a butler and they're the principal. So you've always got to remind yourself of that.
Have you ever seen a royal lose the temper? Yes, I have. Um we've all seen it um after the queen died when we saw the king obviously get frustrated with his pen. As far as I'm concerned when I was working for him, no, I didn't really get to see that. I remember, you know, I wouldn't say he doesn't get frustrated. We all get everybody gets frustrated. Put it this way, in the seven years I was there, he never once lost his temper with me. And either I was doing everything right or I wasn't around enough. Um, and I think, you know, I definitely wasn't perfect. I definitely, you know, made mistakes in the job. So, he was very, um, he was always quite calm. And again, uh, Queen Camila, William and Harry, all of them, uh, were all very relaxed and very kind of chilled. So, I didn't see any of them lose temper. And I always like to say to people that that pen incident when we did see him lose his temper, if I'd still been there, they wouldn't have been a leaky pen. I'd have made sure that that didn't happen.
What's the biggest misconception people have about the royals? I think, and I it may have changed, but I think what people assume is that they live in these palaces and castles and they wander around kind of doing very little. you know, they they've got an army of staff to do things for them and they don't have to do much, which is the complete opposite. I've never actually met to this day anybody that I would consider works, if I can say, as hard as the king because I remember getting up in the morning and my bedroom, I could actually see um High Grove from my where I was staying. Obviously, I was I was on the estate and I could see his lights were on first thing in the morning before I even got to work. And I also remember in the evening when I used to go to bed, so this would be about half 11, 12:00 at night, he would still be working away in his office. So they do work uh really hard and yes they've got staff and people around to help but they don't kind of swan around in these properties and you know kind of like maybe what it maybe was like 400 300 years ago. They they work all the time. It's a full-time job. They do get downtime but not much of it. And and even for the king when he gets his downtime he's normally in the garden doing gardening. I mean I wouldn't call that downtime for me. That' still be work but that's his downtime. So I think that's the thing that people might forget is that and again look at the the late queen uh who would have been 100 this year. I mean up until the end of her life she was still uh working most days in some shape or form which is extraordinary to be in your 90s and didn't really retire. So I think that's the the thing that people might be surprised about is that they do uh they don't stop. They just they just keep going and there is no kind of if you like there's not a retirement part of the job. They they work until basically until they no longer can do the do the job.
Did Megan ever really stand a chance in the royal family? Um I think she did. I think she did stand at the very beginning. Everybody was so excited and thrilled and I wasn't there then but I was I was made aware of how everybody was so excited about her joining um you know after they announced the engagement. Everyone was excited about it because they thought this was a, you know, it was, you know, beginning of a new chapter if you like and everybody, you know, thought this is going to have a this is going to be an amazing kind of fairy tale. And so she did have a she did have a chance and of course, you know, I think the the problem is she kind of went in and and it probably wasn't quite what she imagined. I think because of a background and being in the states and where things are obviously very different and going into a an organization which is let's face it it's quite regimented it's quite strict um I say there's a fun side to it but there's also the there's long hours they're quite long hours and it's quite it's quite fullon so I think maybe it wasn't what she quite imagined.
Were you surprised when Harry stepped back as a working royal? I was surprised Harry stepped back from a working royal because he I thought he loved the job He loves meeting people. He's passionate about the armed forces. I do feel sorry for him that there's been occasions when he's not been allowed to wear, you know, his uniforms and his medals. Uh because let's face it, he he served in Afghanistan. He's seen active service. So I do sometimes feel for him on on that part. But I was surprised that he that they stepped away. And again, it's like why did he step away? And we still don't really deep down we don't actually know. No one's actually kind of explained. And even though he's given examples and explained it, I think we're all still a bit confused as to what happened.
Why does the monarchy matter in 2026? That's probably a question on a lot of people's minds just now with what's taken place over the last few years. I think it's important to the UK. I mean as I said I do a lot of traveling now and when I go to these other countries they love respect and admire that we have a royal family and they quite often will say I wish we had the royal family which is which is interesting I think also it matters because it brings in a huge amount for the the tourist industry I mean I can't remember the exact numbers but it's at 500 million in a normal years brought in from uh the tourists thanks to the royal family and it's over a billion when as a royal event. So, they bring a lot in for the uh for the economy. They they do a lot of good. They do a lot for people's morale. They support so many different organizations. They give hope to so many people. You know, when people might say, "Oh, but look at all the the other side of what's happened over the last few years. They're not perfect. I mean, I think what they have shown is they're like any other family. They have good days and they have bad days. And, you know, they're humans. Of course, you know, things aren't going to go to plan all the time." I think general feeling may have changed after Queen Elizabeth died because I know quite a few people who are not monarchists who do not support the monarchy but they liked Queen Elizabeth and I think after she died it's definitely changed. It's definitely lost dare I say it's lost its magic a little bit. It's lost a little bit of it sparkle but I think that's only temporary. I think it's just because Queen Elizabeth was queen for so long and we all you know so many generations of families were alive during her lifetime. So I think when she died it definitely lost a little bit of its its magic and maybe that's why people kind of wonder you know, is there a point having a monarchy in the 21st century but hopefully as time goes on and what's been taking place over the last few years kind of moves moves on that it might kind of find its place again especially in the future.
Any good goss from William and Kate were first dating? Um wow. So, I remember obviously being there very much when they were when they were dating and it was great fun to be at that point because she's just lovely. She's just so easy going. She's beautiful. She was great fun to be around. Great sense of humor. She definitely brought the best I think in him as well. She got him kind of when they were together. They were they were just a fun really good fun couple. I think as far as as go I remember we used to have some funny conversations and I remember being in the kitchen at High Grove and we're all sitting in the worktops around the kitchen and we're just chatting and we were talking about getting older. we were saying about, you know, the the downside as as you got older and, you know, they were giving their their views and another chef was giving her view and then I turned around and said, I think the worst thing about getting older is when you start to lose your hair and of course this is at the point when William was losing his hair and I hadn't read it. I wasn't thinking what I was saying. And I remember W just kind of gave me this glance and then Kate just started laughing and looked at W then kind of looked down and then I that's what I'd said and I was like I'm ever so sorry. And he was like yeah thanks and I remember kind like that going yeah thanks Grant. Uh and then thankfully everybody kind of laughed and I thought talk about I mean that been about 400 years ago I'd end up in the Tower of London but um so anyway so that was the kind of the kind of fun side with with them and the kind of the kind of goss I suppose the only other thing I'd say from a goss point of view was I remember when they split up and that was awful because I hated that because I you know everybody was talking about it you know both behind closed doors and in the public and and they did split up it wasn't made up and we were all gutted and I remember desperate want to say to William, please don't spot with her because she was lovely. And you know, I wanted to kind of think from a selfish point of view. I wanted to think, you know, one day I looked after this couple and um and luckily as we know, they eventually did get back together thankfully.
Was Prince Philip badly behaved. Everybody loved Prince Phillip in the household. We thought he was so cool. He didn't suffer fools. He said what he thought. He didn't make, you know, he didn't mix his words. He was very witty. I mean, there's even books come out about his witty comments. Some people might say he's politically incorrect. Some people would say he'd speak his mind. He was just himself, and everybody kind of loved him for that. I also remember a really funny incident that happened with me at Harry Megan's wedding at the end of the the wedding. The queen and Prince Philip led the other members of the royal family out of the the chapel. And I remember the queen looking at Prince Phillip and Prince Phil looking at her and the queen looking kind of smiling and he turned around and said, "Thank f that's over." And we were all like, "Did he just say that?" And what we think he was referring to was the length of the service, not the actual wedding because obviously went on for so long. But it was just such a classic remark from Prince Philip. And none of us were really surprised, but we just thought it was so funny that he made that comment as soon as he walks out of Harry Megan's wedding. Maybe he knew something.
Are you encouraged to have a personality or remain invisible? Not invisible, not at all. You actually encouraged to be seen and to be heard. But obviously there's a time and place. As a butler, you're there to do the job and you're supposed to be invisible. But on saying that, they used to in fact the king would even start having conversations with me at the table about my family, about my brother, about my mom and dad, about my friends during a meal. So he didn't want you to be invisible. He wanted to be part of the of the evening, which is amazing. So, it gives you an idea again of of what he's like as a character.
Will William be a good king and why? So, I think William will be well, let's say William and Catherine because I think he'll be a good king and she'll be a good queen. The two of them have got an amazing bond, an amazing relationship, which reminds me of the Queen and Prince Phillip. Uh, and the the love story is very similar to the Queen and Prince Philip. William is also very modern in his approach. He's very practical. He's very down to earth. He's recently said that the future of the monarchy will be royal with a small R. And I think what he's referring to is reducing the size. I suppose just making it worth the time and effort they put into it. So it might mean that we see them doing less royal duties, but maybe they focus on things that they class as really important and put more effort into that. So I think it will change. It might even become more like a European royal family because they're present. They're there, but they I think he's also keen to reduce the cost of the monarchy. And I always stress that the the crown estates, which is where the revenue comes in, they give a huge amount to the treasury and they get a small amount back um for what they do, but even that small amount to the average person is a fortune. And I think he'll be aware of that. I think he's going to be a king that's going to be um can I say a king for the people. So I think uh I think it'd be a very good king and she will make an amazing beautiful queen.
If you saw the late queen eat a burger, all of a sudden she is not the late queen because the queen does not eat burgers. I'm sure the queen did eat a burger in private.
What do you think the queen's McDonald's order would have been? Oh, she was anyone's for a fillet of fish. She was. She dates.