Princess Diana’s battles with the “men in gray suits” have been thoroughly chronicled throughout the years, and even King Charles had his own struggles with courtiers. But when it comes to palace officials, Queen Elizabeth found herself in a much different situation. Despite being the most famous woman in the world, even the late Queen was told what to do, but as royal author Robert Hardman wrote in his new biography of Queen Elizabeth, she wasn’t “obsessed” with old-fashioned traditions like some of the palace’s longtime employees.
In Elizabeth II: In Private. In Public. Her Story, one former private secretary for the late Queen told Hardman that the royal “would ‘metaphorically roll her eyes’ at some of the pedantic elements within the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, the palace department in charge of ceremonial.”
