Speaking exclusively to Slingo, Stephen Kaye said: “Well, we used to go out and have a shooting lunch. At Sandringham we did the lunchtime shoot in a very large log cabin, so we would have to light the fire, put the food on, set the bar and make sure everything was perfect. We once thought the queen had come home for lunch because it was ready for one, but there was no queen [at the cabin]. Two o’clock arrives, three o’clock arrives, no Queen. “Me and my fellow footmen – there’s always this unwritten rule that you’re allowed to have a drink on duty as long as you don’t take it too far – they had a couple of beers and the sniffer dogs waiting for them and finally it’s about 4pm and it’s getting dark. The queen comes in, she’s got a pheasant in one hand and a gun in the other, she puts them in the corner, she puts the dogs in this pen, and I’ve made her a jean and dubonnet—it’s one part jeans, two parts dubonnet, and an ice and a slice, she would always have one of them at five o’clock – and what I found interesting is that she would sit with her elbows on the table as she ate. I just didn’t expect it. “You’ve always had that ‘elbows off the table’ etiquette rule, but if it’s good enough for the Queen, then it’s good enough for us all. I think it’s her way of making her guests feel relaxed. She always sat there picking at the food with her elbows on the table. But he would never do it at a state banquet, obviously.”
