Royal cleaner stories removed by Times and Sun after authenticity questions

Stories featuring a ‘royal cleaner’ who claimed to have worked for the Royal Family for more than a decade have been withdrawn after questions were raised by Press Gazette about their authenticity.

Interviews with ‘Anne Simmons’ featured in dozens of stories from major newspaper publishers this year, including the Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Sun, New York Post and Daily Mirror as well as many regional titles and blogs.

The pieces offered insights into everything from the items Prince Charles would not permit in Palace bathrooms to Kate Middleton’s morning routine.

The Times (in a now-removed piece which can still be seen on archive sites) appeared to run with the story first, on 5 March 2025, with subsequent bursts of coverage across the media in April and May.

The Sun and Times (both part of News UK) removed articles about Simmons after Press Gazette asked questions about their authenticity.

The later pieces centre around ‘tip-style’ content such as how Buckingham Palace uses vinegar instead of fabric softener, and items allegedly banned by Prince Charles in Buckingham Palace, including wet wipes and scented candles.

Coverage appears to have been based on press releases sent out on behalf of a number of companies that claimed to have interviewed Simmons including: Edit Suits, Plumbworld, Playcasino, Plates Express and Pure Window Cleaning.

In the initial Times story, Simmons was described as a “brand ambassador” for Hyperion Tiles.

As far as Press Gazette can ascertain, there is no record of anyone called ‘Anne Simmons’ having worked for Buckingham Palace, either as staff or an outside contractor.

There is also no record of her being vetted for security, which would have happened had she worked in Buckingham Palace.

Had she worked for the Royal Family, she would also have had to sign confidentiality agreements, and her multiple stories in newspaper publishers would breach those agreements.

All the stories feature just one image of ‘Simmons’ sitting on a sofa, and the copy in each piece seems to have been sent out via email, rather than Simmons being available for phone interview. There remains the possibility that Anne Simmons is a pseudonym, but this is not made clear in any of the copy.

Press Gazette has seen copy sent out to national newspapers with quotes from Anne Simmons promoting a company, Edit Suits, which claimed that staff at Buckingham Palace were banned from wearing onesies.

Stories sent out with links to Edit Suits include one on Princess Kate’s morning routine, which featured in the Express, the Mirror and Hello Magazine along with Country and Town House.

Most of the pieces featuring Simmons featured prominent links to Plumbworld, a plumbing company which was linked last week to PR agencies Signal the News and Relay the Update, which have been bombarding journalists with press releases featuring seemingly fake case studies in recent months.

One press release from Relay the Update featured similar ‘life hacks’ to those offered by Simmons from a chef, Daniel Harris, who is also extremely hard to find online.

The press release: “I’m a chef – here’s the £1 kitchen item I use to clean burnt pans fast”, had a 99.9% probability of containing AI writing, according to AI checker Pangram.

Press Gazette contacted the agencies last week and this week to ask about Anne Simmons and other case studies, but got no reply.

The Simmons quotes are often presented as “interviewed by Plumbworld” or “interviewed by Edit Suits”, suggesting the stories had been sent out as a ready-made release.

In recent months, multiple hard-to-find experts linked to Plumbworld have had articles appear in the British press, seemingly sent out as campaigns to gain links in reputable sites such as newspaper publishers.

Links on newspaper sites are highly valuable because they can boost the search engine rankings of websites, helping to drive sales.

Charlotte Hughes, a wellness advisor for the company, had advice featured in the Mirror, Surrey Live and Express among others.

Hughes has no profile on social media and no presence on Plumbworld’s site, and the company did not respond to requests to verify her.

Other experts with links to Plumbworld who are very hard to find online include dermatologist Dr Helena Watson, whose skincare advice has featured in the Daily Express, New York Post, Liverpool Echo and more.

There is no trace of Dr Watson online, either on an official medical site or on social media.

The PR agencies linked to some of these case studies all have exactly the same website design, and link to Romanian companies including SIV Media.

The websites do not appear to be fully finished, and show text saying “Buy full template”, linking to a generic template design for a PR agency.

Staff at the organisations did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Challenged to prove that Anne Simmons existed, Plumbworld made no response over several days to requests sent via the company’s official communications channel.

The company’s CEO and its marketing chief also did not respond to requests sent both via email and via LinkedIn.

Press Gazette reached out to Edit Suits for comment via Linkedin and email and has not heard anything.

Stories on both The Times (which featured an ‘interview’ with Simmons in its Homes and Property section in March this year, where ‘Simmons’ revealed that Buckingham Palace would have a deep clean in advance of Donald Trump’s visit) and multiple stories on sister News UK title The Sun have now been deleted online.

Publisher Reach, which featured stories from ‘Simmons’ including a “10-minute trick trick for clean taps under £1” on sites including the Mirror and the Express, has said that it is overhauling its procedures on quoting experts in the wake of a number of suspicious ‘experts’ sent out by PR and SEO agencies.

The publisher has increased scrutiny over outside content this week in the wake of these stories.

A Reach spokesperson said: “We take the validity of our experts extremely seriously and have been working hard to weed out these fake experts.

“As these fake experts continue to proliferate, we will all need to develop more sophisticated ways to guard against this risk.

“In the meantime we will operate with a far more limited whitelist of approved experts only, which is also not ideal but necessary to stem this tide.”

Press Gazette contacted other newsbrands that published stories featuring Simmons including the Daily Mail and New York Post but has not received any comment at the time of publication.

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