An ex-Royalty Protection officer has spoken fondly of his five years guarding the Queen, remembering chats with her about astronomy – and saying the f-word in front of her.
Duncan Gowin, 73, talked to The Mirror after visiting Buckingham Palace to pay tribute to his old boss, who he met “between 1,000 and 1,200 occasions”.
He said: “I chatted to her on many occasions. When I was at Balmoral, they would go for barbecues and come back late, around midnight.
“The Queen would come out to walk the corgis. I’d be up a tree as part of the protection plan. If she wanted to speak to me she’d flash her torch and I’d come down.
"She was an incredible astronomer, pointing out the stars, and so kind, always asking after my wife and daughter.”
After Michael Fagan broke into Buckingham Palace in 1982, a Royalty Protection officer would patrol outside her bedroom every night.
Duncan, a sergeant based at Buckingham Palace from 1984 until he retired in 1989, said: “If the officer was on a break I’d take over.”
Duncan also recalled how his first day on duty at Balmoral was almost his last.
He said: “One of the Queen’s Shire horses got its leg stuck in a single strand wire fence.
“I called a ghillie to bring pliers to cut the strand and free the horse. It was only a minute or two, but it seemed like an hour.
"The ghillie turns up in a Land Rover, and I said, ‘Where the f*** have you been?’
“Then I noticed that the Queen was with him. I was so embarrassed. I apologised profusely.
“But she never ever mentioned it again. Unlike my boss, who said, ‘This was your first day at Balmoral, and it may well be your last. Luckily, it wasn’t.”
Duncan, a Scot now living in Leatherhead, Surrey, recalled how staff would get invited to Highland balls.
He said: “I had wonderful times at Balmoral. We were invited to dances. All the staff. I have very happy memories.
“The Queen was a very special person.”
