The Queen's former postmaster has revealed how Her Majesty was "great craic" - and even pulled a hilarious prank on him involving a spoon. Mick Delaney, who worked at Buckingham Palace for almost 20 years, has opened up about his time with the royal family who he describes as "normal in so many ways."
Within his role, Mick spent a lot of his time travelling with the late Queen Elizabeth II and says he was always amazed at her ability to put people at ease the moment she met them. He also received several gifts during his time with the royals - including a slice of Charles and Camilla's wedding cake.
Mick, who is originally from Brixton, told the Irish Mirror : "I started working at the Royal Mail when I was 16 and was supposed to start at the House of Commons but I was sent to Buckingham Palace to cover sick leave and there I stayed.
"All the palaces have their own internal court post office and staff. I got promoted through the ranks and finally ended up as court postmaster with responsibility for all of the telecommunications and postal services.
"I don't have one bad word to say about the Queen or Prince Philip. When she died, I got so many texts from my Irish friends that it was like my nana had died.
"She was always working and was meticulous with everything she did. She was so clever. She could read a room in moments and would research everyone so she could talk at ease to them. If she met you in two years time, she would ask you about your family. She never seemed to forget.
"I remember I wasn't wearing my full uniform one of the first days I was working and she enquired who the scary postman was, after seeing my earring and tattoo. She was always very relaxed and great craic. She would regularly show up at staff parties for a chat.
"I remember when we were in the Duke of Westminster's country home. It was very much like Downton Abbey in that all the staff were downstairs having tea and talking. The Queen's policeman started to tell us about a game she played with a spoon when she appeared downstairs.
"He said: 'Your Majesty, do you remember that game with the spoon. She smiled and said Yes!. 'Would you play it with the Postmaster?'
"So she sat on a chair and I had to go around the back of her. I put a spoon in my mouth and hit it off her head. Of course, when you have a spoon in your mouth, there's no power behind it, so it doesn't hurt.
"Then it was my turn. She walked around me and walloped me over the head with the spoon in her hand. She, like everyone in the room started laughing and it took me a few seconds to realise that I was after being slapped across the head with a spoon by the Queen.
"On another occasion, we were in Balmoral. There was a green Range Rover, that we called the Green Lady, that staff used to run down to the shop and you left your order with the policeman at the gate.
"A message was sent down to a new policeman one day that we wanted some crisps and a can of coke from the shop. However unbeknown to us, the Queen was leaving in her green Range Rover at the same time.
"So this young policeman stopped the car and asked the Queen if she would get some crisps and a can of coke in the shop. She laughed and said, 'I think you have the wrong Green Lady. But I'll get them for you, if you wish!'
"They were so normal in many ways. Prince Philip used to make his own sausages and cook them for whoever was around and I once had the pleasure of viewing the gardens of the late Queen Mother at her behest at her Birkhall home on Balmoral Estate.
"I think the level of loyalty I have towards them is because they treated us with such respect. The husband of a Royal telephonist died suddenly when I was there and every year on his anniversary, the then Prince of Wales (King Charles) would personally deliver a bouquet of flowers to her."
Mick also joined the Queen on many state visits and met several world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and former US President George W Bush. He said: "Putin was quite small and very quiet. After the event, two Russian KGB agents offered me a drink from a bottle of 1973 whiskey which is the year I was born. It was 11 in the morning!"
When Princess Diana died, Mick recalls working two 24 and a half hour shifts in a single week.
"Every Royal member has their funeral mapped out and practiced but Diana was too young for that so when she died we had to base her funeral invitation list on her Christmas card list. We were driving round in a van delivering all the invitations," he said.
"Diana was stunningly beautiful and always smelled amazing, which added to her allure. On a normal day, there was normally about 15 bags of post at Buckingham Palace but in the days after she died, this rose to over 500 bags of letters of sympathy. And there was far more at Kensington Palace."
Mick travelled across the UK with the Queen, and would dine from the same menu as the monarch.
"You ate what she ate because the chef wasn't going to cook something else for you. So I got used to the best quality ingredients and even now, my family laugh because if I eat out, it's very hard to match my expectations and standards years later," he said.
"Audrey didn't see a whole lot of me when I was flying around the country. I was waiting in Windsor Castle one evening for the Queen's post on her return from a trip to Thailand. She arrived late and in apologising, she gave me a huge bunch of Thai orchids and told me they were for Audrey.
"We also got to go to the Royal Boxes in places if they weren't being used. The staff were always offered them so you could go to Royal Ascot or Wimbledon if the Royal family were unable to go."
"I saw Manchester United versus my beloved Millwall in the Royal box at Cardiff Stadium."
Despite leaving his role almost 19 years ago, he says he still misses 'the pomp and pageantry'.
"I worked very closely with them. So when they came out onto the balcony at Buckingham Palace, I would be in the next room making sure the fly paths were working for the fly by and all the communications were up to speed," he said.
"I do miss the pomp and pageantry but it was also lovely to see the side of the Queen that the public rarely gets a glimpse of. She was normal as she could be. She went out of her way to treat staff well and with respect and she was great craic.
"When I was leaving, she made sure to come by and say farewell and she had researched exactly where I was moving to and a little bit about it and that was the way she was with everyone. She made you feel like you mattered and were part of one big family."
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