Behind Palace Doors - My Service as the Queen Mother's Equerry

Major Colin Burgess, Colin Burgess

• Publisher: John Blake
• Year: 2007
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781782191612
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

She was described as the most dangerous woman in Europe by Adolf Hitler; Noel Coward said people who spent any time with her were always reduced to 'gibbering worshippers'; she adored Margaret Thatcher and disliked Germans; she found the French comical and hankered for the old days of Empire and Commonwealth. Above all, though, she was loved by the nation and in this affectionate and often hilarious inside story of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, her former equerry Major Colin Burgess reveals what life was like living with the most private of all the Royals. "Behind Palace Doors" is a unique and warmly remembered historic insight into one of our longest-surviving institutions. Constantly fascinating and packed with previously untold stories, this is also a celebration of a life gone - and a way of life fast disappearing.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1: A Sleeping Lunch
• 2: Don’t Mention the War!
• 3: Shooting Squirrels With a Sniper Rifle
• 4: When Is Nelson Mandela Going To Stand Up?
• 5: ‘Will One of You Old Queens Bring This Old Queen a Gin and Tonic?’
• 6: ‘Have I Died Again?’
• 7: ‘Oh, Bloody Hell!’
• 8: The Reluctant Royal and a Man In a Hurry
• 9: Princess Margaret Is On Fire
• 10: Setting the Hounds On the Boys From Eton
• 11: ‘Go On, Go On, Hit Him, Go On, Punch Him!’
• 12: ‘Get Your Black Tie On Because One of the Guests Has Died’
• 13: ‘Did You Get Lucky This Weekend, Colin?’
• 14: It’s Groundhog Day
• Epilogue
• Sources
• Copyright