Not in Front of the Corgis Read Online Free PDF

Balcony Room, from where the royal party emerge to wave to the crowds following a celebration such as a wedding or the State Opening of Parliament.
    On the ground floor, the Belgian Suite is where foreign Heads of State are housed during visits to London and this leads onto the swimming pool.
    Diagonally opposite on the ground floor is the Court Post Office across the corridor from the Palace’s Pay Office. There is still a Billiards Room that is no longer used for its original purpose, so it is used mainly for small drinks parties when a senior member of the Household is leaving. The Bow Room, leading out onto the terrace, contains some magnificent examples of china and porcelain and it is also where an endearing custom used to be maintained. Whenever The Queen was departing for an overseas tour, members of the Royal Household would gather in the Bow Room to bid her farewell and assemble again on her return to welcome her home.
    As The Queen now always leaves from the Garden Entrance near her private quarters, this little ceremony no longer takes place.
    Up on the second floor, in the front, in what used to be the Palace schoolroom, is the Princess Royal’s sitting room and office suite – her bedroom suite isnow in York House at St James’s Palace – and the Duke of York’s offices are next door with the Lady-in-Waiting’s suite occupying the entire corner.
    There is also a mezzanine floor overlooking The Queen’s Gallery and Buckingham Palace Road. This is where the staff Dining Room is located. The kitchens, which take up more than half of the east side of the ground floor, are immediately beneath the Dining Room.
    This then is the London residence of The Queen and, far from being a museum piece, there is seldom a day in the year when Buckingham Palace is not humming with activity.

CHAPTER TWO
T HE B EST OF F RIENDS
    f ever there was a relationship between an august royal figure and her servant that was truly unique it was that between Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother and her Page of the Backstairs, William Tallon.
    William, who was known to the outside world, and to other members of the Royal Household, as ‘Backstairs Billy’ – though never that to Her Majesty, openly admitted that he was in love with his boss and claimed that she had a great affection for him, which was true.
    He once said The Queen Mother treated him as a favourite adopted son, while his colleagues suggested it was more like a naughty puppy. She allowed him certain privileges, but he was never permitted to overstep the mark, and in fairness to him, he knew his place.
    With his mass of flamboyant hair and immaculate bearing, William was easily the most recognisable member of the Royal Household, before or since.
    He thoroughly enjoyed basking in the reflected glory that came with his association with The Queen Mother and he dined out at some of London’s finest restaurants, on the strength of that association.
    Journalists and authors plied him with invitations, which he accepted with alacrity. One of his favourite bars was in Duke’s Hotel in St James’s, just across the road from Clarence House. William was a regular and he claimed they made the best martini in the world. A barman would wheel a trolley to William’s table and mix the drink in front of him, making sure it was almost neat gin, which was the way he liked. His intake was prodigious. Like his royal mistress, he was said to have ‘hollow legs’ and many of his hosts found it impossible to keep up with him. And, when he walked back to Clarence House, he was as steady as when he had left.
    William Tallon joined the Royal Household as a trainee footman in the early 1950s. He was a great success and promotion was fairly swift. When King George VI died in February 1952 and preparations began for the (by now) Queen Mother to move across the road from Buckingham Palace to Clarence House, William was part of the advance party. Her Majesty didn’t actually move until nearly a