Queen Fun Night: What Really Transpires In The Royal Lodge

Very little is known about Queen Elizabeth I. But an interview with the Countess of Snowdon’s lady in waiting revealed the Queen Mother and the royal family’s nightly routine.

Lady Anne Glennconner, Queen Mother’s daugher Princess Margaret’s lady-in-waiting and the widow of the third Baron Glenconner Colin Tennant, revealed how they would be invited to the Royal Lodge and what transpired in those alcohol-fueled evenings. She recalled how mesmerized and amused Elizabeth I was by the BBC sitcom “Dad’s Army” and would often make guests watch it with her.

“Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret would invite Colin and me to stay at Royal Lodge,” Lady Anne said in an interview. “Every evening, we had drinks in the drawing room, where we’d often find her standing in front of the television, transfixed by Dad’s Army,” she continued.

She shared that they would remain standing for the entire show. This is because royal protocol dictates that as long as a member of the royal family is standing, they couldn’t take their seats.

“So we’d just stand with the Queen Mother as she watched her favourite TV programme — she was a big fan of Captain Mainwaring — sipping a dry martini, laughing until the credits ran,” added the lady-in-waiting.

Once the Queen Mother’s favorite show was done, they would go to the dining room, where more alcohol was served. Apart from the abundance of wine served during the meal, the highlight of their night would be the Queen’s tirade of toasting.

“She’d say the name of someone she liked and raise her glass above her head,” she recalled. “And we’d all follow suit. For anybody she didn’t like, she’d lower her glass under the table and say their name, and we’d do the same. These toasts went on for ages, accompanied by roars of laughter and copious amounts of alcohol.”

The rest of the night would be filled with fun and laughter, always accompanied by music and dancing led by Princess Margaret. These nights, she said fondly, were “always fun” but not always purely peaceful.

Their alcohol-induced joy would often be interrupted by “bouts of bickering between the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, who at times had a slightly strained relationship.”

“One of them would do things like opening all the windows, only for the other to go around shutting them,” she recalled. “Or one would suggest an idea, and the other would dismiss it immediately. Perhaps they were too similar.”