The late Queen Elizabeth navigated the monarchy through decades of societal shifts and family scandals during her extensive reign.
Although she maintained a firm grip on the operations of the House of Windsor, it wasn’t without its mishaps behind palace doors.
A former footman has recounted an incident from his time in Royal service when a blunder left the late monarch “sitting in the dark” causing a frantic rush among the staff to rectify the slip-up.
Steven Kaye, who served as a Royal footman for more than three years after personally writing to the late Queen Elizabeth to ask about a job, disclosed that a “mistake” at Windsor Castle occurred partly because of the pressure for “perfection” in their duties, reports the Mirror.
Speaking to Slingo, Kaye shared details of the event: “These sorts of things do happen quite a lot, with any job where there has to be perfection, there’s always going to be a lot of mistakes.
“But, as long as you correct those mistakes quickly, I don’t think the Queen really minds. She doesn’t like sloppiness, so given that it’s an accident and not deliberate, she’s usually OK.”
Kaye recalled a memorable incident at Windsor where the under-butler neglected to place candles on the dining table: “There was one occasion where the under-butler had forgotten to put candles out on the dining table.
“As it so happened, for some bizarre reason in the dining room at Windsor the lights were flickering on and off, so the Queen ordered that the lights be turned off and we’d just have candlelight – well, there were no candles. We were then running down to one of the pantries to find some candles and bring them up while the Queen was virtually sitting in the dark”.
He also shared how his fascination with royal life began after watching a documentary, prompting him to contact the Queen about job prospects: “I thought, I’m just going to send a letter to the palace and apply, see if I get a reply – I didn’t think I would – so I wrote to the Queen and said how much I enjoyed the documentary and how might a person gain entry into Royal service.”
Against his better judgment, Kaye posted his letter, which yielded an unexpected response: “I was in two minds about whether to post it, but a few weeks later a letter came through the door with the Queen’s crest and stamp on.
“I thought it would be a thank you, but no thank you. I opened up the letter and it said we’re interested in meeting you. I rang this number and arranged to go down to Buckingham Palace”.
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