An ex-kitchen porter at the royal households has reflected on the death of the Queen.
Working in the kitchen at Sandringham House one afternoon in 1989, a kitchen porter was being pestered by one of the Queen’s corgis.
After futile attempts to remove the dog from the kitchen, the porter recalls hearing a loud female voice of command. He looked at the corgi, the corgi looked at him, and it scarpered.
Reverend David Hall, 56, did five stints working as washup assistant and kitchen porter at various royal households between 1986 and 1989. Hall’s job as a kitchen porter involved serving the Queen’s staff, who referred to her as both ‘the Queen’ and ‘the Boss’.
Hall said: “I never, ever, in my whole time there, heard a bad word spoken of her.”
He has noted that if the staff had complained, he would have heard.
Hall also remembers her incredible presence at the annual Ghillies Ball at Balmoral Castle.
“As the Queen walked across the ballroom, all the guests melted back in shock and awe. She looked like a queen,” he described.
Reflecting on the Queen’s death, he said: “The amazing thing about the Queen was that she was a global figure and yet we felt she was also a member of our family.”
Hall is now the vicar of Christ Church, Chorleywood, and praised the Queen’s modelling of faithful Christianity through both her healing words spoken at significant political moments and her conduct.
He explained: “She behaved well in a position that did not depend on goodwill and therefore demonstrated that she was accountable to God.”
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