Queen Elizabeth seriously scolded Prince William after he left everyone 'frantic' on Balmoral weekend away
This interaction was overheard by royal Lady Anne Glenconner from inside the castle and she's revealed what it was all about
It's hard to think of Queen Elizabeth shouting at anyone but she didn't turn a blind eye when her grandchildren were up to no good. Prince William has spoken before about being given an "almighty b*********" as a child for knocking down a lamppost in a go-cart and almost squashing Zara but he saw his granny's formidable side on other occasions too.
During another stay at Balmoral Castle in 1990, the Prince sparked panic when he seemingly went missing on his pony. Lady Anne Glenconner, lady-in-waiting to his great-aunt Princess Margaret, overheard the Queen's reaction when William finally turned up and she wasn't happy…
"I peered out of the window and saw the Queen tearing a strip off Prince William who was on his pony on the drive. He must have been around eight," she claims in her memoir, Trunks & Tiaras.
At the time, Anne had no idea what had happened but Margaret spoke to the Queen and reported back that, "Prince William had been out riding with the groom and his cousins and had wheeled back from the group and returned to the castle on his own without letting anyone know."
When they'd realised the little Prince was gone, the grooms "had been frantic looking for him". As Lady Glenconner vividly put it, "You can imagine how terrified they were in case he had fallen and hit his head with no one knowing where he was."
Queen Elizabeth must've been relieved to see William was safe but like many worried grandparents and parents, wanted to make it clear that it must never happen again. As the family matriarch, her word was final and she still occasionally corrected his behaviour as an adult.
Many of us will remember her firmly telling him, "Stand up, William", during Trooping the Colour in 2016 when the Prince of Wales was bending down on the balcony to talk to George during the RAF flypast. We rarely saw the Queen scolding her family like this in public and even behind the scenes her grandkids could still enjoy getting up to *some* mischief.
The Prince of Wales gave Eugene Levy a tour of Windsor Castle when he appeared on the Canadian actor's show, The Reluctant Traveler, last year and revealed that they used to play games and chase each other in the historic St George's Hall.
"My cousins and I and the family, would chase each other up and down here and play silly games. And I remember these carpets weren't here, and there are a couple of spots where you used to have to watch out because you'd get massive splinters because the floor is old wood," he said.
The Prince of Wales didn't mention how Queen Elizabeth felt about him and his cousins running about the castle, though we know Prince Philip used to get into "trouble" with her for *his* way of keeping their grandchildren entertained.
In BBC's 2021 documentary, Prince Philip: The Royal Family Remembers, William described a childhood game involving a tube of mustard which Philip would put in their hands - "and then he'd squish your hands together to fire the mustard onto the ceiling". No wonder the Queen wasn't a fan!
