Buckingham Palace is an exquisite building, and royal fans would happily fight one another for the chance to stay there for even one night. However, not every Royal Family resident who has had the pleasure of residing in the palace has taken the best care of it. In fact, one unexpected royal allegedly set fire to their room inside Buckingham Palace on more than one occasion.
In his book Yes, Ma'am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants, author Tom Quinn interviewed Agnes Cooke, a former palace kitchen worker who recalled the "fiery habit" Prince Philip's mom was known for. Cooke explained (via the Daily Mail), "Well, there was a lady-in-waiting who was very friendly with Philip's mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, when Alice was living at Buckingham Palace, and they used to smoke cigarettes together in Alice's apartment—so much so that they regularly set fire to it."
