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eferred to as servants. It was through her closeness to certain key figures such as Bobo
and Bennett that she learned what really went on in the Palace and among the staff.
Elizabeth liked to feel she was in charge. At Buckingham Palace, unlike Clarence House,
she was the dominant figure. ‘I always found from my very young days’, a senior
member of her staff recalled, ‘that if anything was wrong it was far better to go and say
so to her… I always felt I could tell the Queen anything and she would be
understanding… quietly, perhaps she might have been a bit irritated but she was always
very good if you told her the truth about it. I’ve known people to try and pull the wool
over her eyes but she was quite cross when she found out that they weren’t telling her
exactly the gospel truth…’ Importance in the Palace domestic hierarchy depends on the
proximity which a position brings them in relation to the Queen. Elizabeth was
surrounded by familiar figures, such as Cyril Dickman, who had been nursery footman
at Windsor during the war and was to rise steadily through the ranks of seniority to the
top job of Palace Steward, and Ernest ‘Bennie’ Bennett, her butler at Clarence House,
who became the Queen’s Page, one of the Palace positions which brings its holder into
close personal touch with the sovereign.
Elizabeth, as an executive woman at a high level, still felt compelled to do not only
the job her father had done as sovereign but also the one her mother had done as royal
hostess.
She must have an iron constitution [a member of her staff said], considering the amount of official work,
ceremonial stuff, she had to do. Obviously she had the Master of the Household to look after the running of it
but she didn’t go round with her eyes shut. In fact she was very quick at seeing anything or picking up on
anything and she liked to know what was going to happen. For instance, before a big dinner or people
coming, she was always very concerned about the arrangements… she always used to go around the vistors’
rooms, see they’re right, papers there, stationery, all the lamps lit, all that sort of thing. She’d be concerned
whether they were going to have chocolates in their room and drinks in their room… she concerned herself
with all that detail… She would look at the books in the rooms and if it was somebody she particularly knew
their likes and dislikes she might think one of them was unsuitable or she’d say, ‘Get it out of the library and
put it there.’ She always passed the menu every day. She would get the menu book up at breakfast time…
Bobo, of course, headed the list in terms of real power and influence and continued to
do so until incapacitated by old age. Although officially termed the Queen’s dresser
(there are always two) and answerable to the Master of the Household, in practice Bobo
regarded herself as answerable only to Elizabeth. She felt herself perfectly within her
rights to ignore the dictates of successive Masters of the Household if they did not suit
her – attempts to limit the tray service to which she was accustomed at Sandringham
were doomed to failure. Even senior male members of the royal household like Boy
Browning were frightened of her. ‘I’ve heard her be quite acid to some Members of the
Household,’ a colleague said. Her power lay in her intense loyalty and absolute devotion
to her ‘Little Lady’. ‘She adored the Queen and had a tremendous grip on the Queen’s
possessions,’ a member of the household said. ‘She was a no-nonsense Scot and jolly
tough.’ ‘She had a great influence on the Queen,’ a fellow staff member said. ‘She was a