Louth man recalls his years working in UK Queen’s household and her pranks with staff

The late UK Queen’s former postmaster has revealed how the cherished monarch played pranks with the staff and initially called him the ‘scary postman’ because of his tattoo and earring.

Mick Delaney spent 19 years at Buckingham Palace and said he has nothing but good things to say about the Queen who once whacked him across the back of the head with a spoon in a prank game with staff.

The native of Brixton, England also disclosed how Queen Elizabeth II could read a room in seconds and researched everyone she was meeting in order to make them at ease in conversation with her.

Over the course of his tenure, Mick received a number of gifts from the Royal family, including Christmas cards from the Queen and Prince Philip and a piece of Charles and Camilla’s wedding cake, at which he helped in the preparations.

Delaney, who now lives in Co Louth with his family, said he spent so much time away travelling with the Royal family that his wife Audrey would say they Queen was the third person in their marriage.

“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,” he said

“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.

Reading a room

“I don’t have one bad word to say about the Queen or Prince Philip.

“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,” he said.

“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.

Green lady

“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.”

“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.

State visits

Delaney also worked at many State visits and met Russian President Vladamir Putin and former US President George Bush Jr.

“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.”

He also vividly recalls the week Princess Diana’s died.

“Every Royal member has their funeral mapped out and practised, 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.

“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.”

Eating like a royal

Mick travelled the UK with the Queen and when the Queen was away privately, as it was known, dined from the same menu.

“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.

“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.”

Although he left the Royal household nearly two decades ago, he admits he still misses all “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 all the communications were up to speed.

“I do miss the pomp and pageantry, but it was also lovely to see the side of the Queen that the public rarely got to glimpse. 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.”