Former royal butler Paul Burrell has revealed the amusing two-word nickname that staff used for Buckingham Palace.
Paul, 67, who served Princess Diana from 1987 to 1997, also shed light on the drinking culture within the palace walls, including among the staff.
In his new book, The Royal Insider: My Life with the Queen, the King and Princess Diana, he wrote: “It wasn’t just bed-hopping that went on in the palaces; there was a degree of inebriation which often helped loosen people’s inhibitions.
“Forget Buckingham Palace, it was nicknamed ‘Gin Palace’ after the spirit that flowed freely through the everyday workings of the building. Gin, always, Gordon’s, was the drink of choice.”
Paul noted that the drinking culture he encountered while working at the famous UK landmark was vastly different from his own upbringing and mentioned certain tactics allegedly used to sneak alcohol into the building, reports the Mirror.
Paul continued: “Coming from a world where a pint of Mansfield Bitter pulled by my auntie Pearl in the local was the norm, with a cherry brandy or a snowball at Christmas.
“I wasn’t used to such extravagance, but I quickly became quite familiar with the ingenious ways in which the household smuggled booze for their soirees.
“I would be ordered by senior members of staff to empty a screw-topped tonic water bottle each night and fill it with gin for them to use for parties in their rooms. These parties were for a select group of staff.
“There was a hierarchy downstairs as well as upstairs. Certain cliques of servants, depending on your rank and length of service, were invited to the soirees.”
Paul has since confessed he felt “nervous” during his initial encounter with the late monarch, recalling how he was carrying a silver tray laden with 20 Royal Worcester coffee cups, saucers and gilt spoons for a gathering of approximately 30 family members.
He explained: “Then my nerves got the better of me and the cups and saucers all started to rattle. I will never forget the noise. All I had to do was stand behind the Queen and the pages would come to me and collect the cups.”
Paul also revealed details about King Charles’ “excessive demands” during his time serving the Royal Family.
He wrote: “His routines have never changed. His toothpaste is squeezed onto his toothbrush every morning and he uses a silver key which winds down the tube to avoid any waste.”
However, whilst Charles claims to “abhor” waste, Burrell alleges he is at the same time remarkably lavish when it comes to his wardrobe: “His pyjamas are laundered or pressed every day, the drawstring tapes pressed flat like his shoelaces.
“He, again like his father, likes his dress shoes to be ‘spit-and-polished’ to a mirror finish.”