The Royal Family’s ‘Hanoverian Housekeeping’ tips revealed: Buy £1000 shirts, £5,000 suits (put silver ciggy boxes in every room, then pay your bills late and grab as much free stuff as you can)

Nobody outside the Royal Household really knows the luxurious extent of the lifestyle of the Royal Family. 

Outwardly, they give the impression of being frugal and parsimonious – which they are, even though Princess Anne prefers to call it ‘Good old-fashioned Hanoverian Housekeeping’ – but it does not apply to what they eat, drink, wear, drive and ride. 

Every one of them enjoys the best that money can buy, even if they instruct their staff to negotiate the best deals when ordering on their behalf. 

The Royal Household is notorious for asking for discounts – and for waiting until the last minute before paying the bills.

The Royals will only read hard back books and expect them free from the bookseller – before the official publication date

A routine helicopter flight by Prince Andrew, Duke of York, takes weeks to arrange and means no other aircraft, either fixed wing or helicopter is allowed within three miles on either side of him, above or below his aircraft

As a family they take luxury for granted and regard loyalty – in others – above all other virtues. 

Servants are expected to obey without question, and to stand and be verbally abused without answering back, even when they are clearly not at fault.

As a former senior staff member once remarked, ‘The Royal Family may not always be right, but they are never wrong.’ 

The idea of having to accept second best in anything simply does not occur to any of the family.

The attention to detail the Royals insist upon is remarkable in this day and age.

For instance, Camilla still loves to smoke, so footmen are instructed to place silver cigarette boxes containing her favourite brand in every room, and also to make sure that matchbox holders in solid silver containers, are placed upright near at hand with one match half withdrawn so she does not have to scrabble about looking for a light.

When entertainers are summoned to entertain the Royal Family, they are given a seven-page document instructing them in how to behave. 

For example, they are told they must not, under any circumstances, slouch or lean against bars or tables, bow ties should be of the self-tie variety and performers are not allowed to speak to any member of the Royal Family unless spoken to first. 

Hatchards are ‘invited’ to provide copies of the latest books, before publication date – always in hard back as they will not handle paperbacks, and unopened, as they love the feel of a brand new book – and there must be more than one copy of each book as they like to leave the one they are reading in one room and pick up the identical copy, marked by a footman or housemaid, at the correct page. 

The same applies to films and videotapes. Television and film companies supply the Palace with the latest release before the general public see them so that the King and Queen can have a preview.

A routine helicopter flight by Prince Andrew, Duke of York, takes weeks to arrange and means no other aircraft, either fixed wing or helicopter is allowed within three miles on either side of him, above or below his aircraft. 

Air traffic controllers are made aware of the flight and what they describe as an invisible ‘Purple Carpet’ is unrolled before him.

The Royal valets are shown how to tie their masters’ shoelaces. Some have to be cross-stitched and others simply tied straight. And all laces have to be ironed whenever the shoes are taken off.

The valets keep a checklist of the outfits worn on a particular day, and where, so they can tell their principals if they have worn something to the same place on more than one occasion.

The King also has a fully equipped barbershop immediately above his rooms in Buckingham Palace where his hairdresser comes once a week to touch up the Royal locks.

The only time Queen Camilla leaves the Palace for a medical appointment is to go to the dentist in Wimpole Street, because that is where his surgery is fully equipped. 

Otherwise, doctors and nurses are all summoned to wherever she is at the time.

Whenever Queen Camilla is expected at a private home, her police officer rings the hostess on his mobile five minutes before HM arrives so that the door is ready open. 

The late Queen Elizabeth II never rang a doorbell in her life.

The Princess Royal drives a £160,000 Bentley that she leases at £3,000 a month, having obtained a £1,000 discount, and she hates being driven, even by her husband who has never even been allowed to sit behind the wheel.

The King’s suits, of which he has sixty, cost upwards of £5,000 each, while his shirts, all hand-made, cost £1,000 and he has more than 200, while his collar stiffeners are solid gold. His collection of ties, regimental, club and personal, runs to over 500.

The late Queen Elizabeth II never rang a doorbell in her life, says royal author Brian Hoey

Valets keep a checklist of the outfits worn on a particular day so that they are not repeated

Prince Charles’s Valet, Ken Stronach, pictured in the Uniform Room at Kensington Palace cleaning a ceremonial sword

The King also has a fully equipped barbershop immediately above his rooms in Buckingham Palace where his hairdresser comes once a week to tend the royal locks

Princess Anne hates being driven, even by her husband who has never even been allowed to sit behind the wheel

A serving soldier based at Birdcage Walk, polishes His Majesty’s boots and shoes every day – he has 50 pairs each costing over £2,000 to make by Lobb of St James’s – and a housemaid hand washes his silk underwear as soon as it is discarded. Nothing Charles or Camilla wears is allowed near a washing machine.

Prince Edward was once said (but never proven) to have sacked a butler because the man was not outside the house when he arrived back and Edward had to open the car door himself. 

His chauffeur is instructed to face the front at all times, even when the car is stationery.

Nothing is too much trouble for the most famous family in the world.