Elizabeth II was a queen who got her hands dirty. Or rather, her gloves, which she often wore to wash dishes after dinner. Despite having an army of servants at her disposal, including waiters, chefs, and housekeepers, it seems that washing dishes was one of her passions, according to writer and radio host Gyles Brandreth in the biography Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait. In the book, the funniest anecdote concerns former British Prime Minister David Cameron, who once tried to help the Queen with her favorite task during a stay at Balmoral.
The former prime minister told Gyles that during a dinner “I was waited on by Prince Philip and Her Majesty the Queen, who later cleared and washed everything, while I sat talking to the other guests. I remember thinking I should help them and so I got up, put on my gloves and started washing the dishes. And I remember Her Majesty saying: ‘What the hell are you doing Prime Minister?’ I had broken protocol, and I sat down again and did what I was told.”
On another occasion, a former royal employee told writer Harry Mount about when Elizabeth helped organize lunch after a hunting trip. The source said that “at the end of the meal, I heard someone say, ‘I’ll do the dishes.’ I turned around and saw the Queen with her yellow dishwashing gloves.”
Former royal butler Paul Burrell also recounted that once Elizabeth II started washing dishes in front of then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher after a picnic. A fervent monarchist, Thatcher was firmly convinced that the Queen should not wash dishes. But Burrel claims that a compromise was reached when Elizabeth proposed to the Prime Minister: “Well, I’ll wash. You dry?”
Brandreth claims that the Queen’s passion for washing dishes began at an early age. Of course, those who have read the wartime diaries of the Queen’s childhood friend, Alathea Fitzalan-Howard, will know that Lilibet had always been good at housework. In March 1941, when they were attending cooking lessons at Windsor, the friend noted: “Lillibet likes washing dishes and does it more than all of us put together.”
—Adnkronos International, Rome (TNS)
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