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suit, evening clothes and a shooting suit; otherwise he wore a blazer and flannels. ‘He is
difficult to dress,’ Dean wrote, ‘because he’s not interested in clothes and is set on his
own ideas – he wears suede shoes with evening dress and he simply cannot tie a tie.’
When his father’s trunks turned up from France, he had Prince Andrew’s old suits altered
– one was a blue lounge suit, moth-eaten and darned, but he insisted on wearing it.
Although Philip was, according to Dean, by nature ‘pleasant and courteous to servants’,
he tended to be outspoken ‘in naval fashion’ with Dean, who was inclined to take
offence. On one occasion he called Dean a ‘stupid clot’ and they were not on speaking
terms for several days. Often when Philip and his valet were having an argument in the
dressing-room, Elizabeth would say, ‘Listen to them, Bobo, they’re just like Papa and
Jerram. Only sometimes I think they’re worse.’
Perhaps because of his early experiences of having no money of his own, Philip was
careful with it. Thrift seems to be a royal characteristic. In those days the women of the
family used to send their stockings to Harrods to be repaired. On the other hand, they
were generous tippers. When Elizabeth and Philip went to stay, as they often did in the
first years of their marriage, with the Brabournes in their two converted farm cottages
in the village street at Mersham-le-Hatch in Ashford, Kent, the butler and cook would
get £3 each, graduating down to £1 for the most junior member of staff – while a visit to
the Duke of Beaufort’s vast house, Badminton in Gloucestershire, could cost them £20 in
tips. Beyond tipping and church collections, when Bobo and Dean would dole out the
requisite amount – half a crown for the ‘family’ churches at Sandringham, Windsor and
Balmoral, a more ostentatious £1 for ‘strange’ ones – the royals never carried money or
dealt in cash. Shopping would be charged to accounts which would be settled by Boy
Browning and the Clerk Comptroller at Clarence House, ex-naval Petty Officer Leslie
Treby.
Both Elizabeth and Philip had simple tastes in food and drink. Like her mother,
Elizabeth had a weakness for chocolate, but she has always been abstemious as far as
alcohol is concerned and in those days never drank anything but orange juice with her
meals, barely touching a glass of wine when dining out. Philip would have a glass of
beer with lunch, a gin and tonic in the evening.
Although the food was simple, the standards of service at Clarence House were as high
as they would have been at Buckingham Palace or any great house.
In return for all this cherishing, Elizabeth took a great interest in her staff. There had
almost been a family row between the Edinburghs and the Athlones over Bennett, the
Athlones’ butler, who had worked for them at Clock House. ‘Through Bobo they pinched
Bennett,’ a courtier said, ‘on one condition, that whenever Lord Athlone was going out
on some official function, Bennett would go and put his uniform out and help him dress.
He was absolutely wonderful, he not only did flowers beautifully but on tour he always
kept staff happy and arranged outings for them.’ Bennett stayed with Elizabeth when
she became Queen, becoming Page of the Presence, the top staff job. Like her
grandfather, George V, Elizabeth disliked change, particularly in personnel, but the
apparently limitless pool of domestic servants which had existed before the Second