Pete Wicks says Buckingham Palace is 'no different to Nando’s' after discovery

Former TOWIE star Pete Wicks wasn't exactly bowled over by a recent visit to Buckingham Palace. Speaking to close friend Sam Thompson on their Staying Relevant podcast, he likened the 320-year-old landmark to a branch of Nando's.

He recounted how, after spending the day filming at the Dogs' Trust, a charity he serves as ambassador for, he had changed into his suit and tie "in a kennel" before dashing across the capital on the "hottest day of the year" to attend the royal occasion.

Yet upon being welcomed into the 775-room palace, Pete found himself restricted to the public areas, which he considered decidedly underwhelming. Using the Palace facilities, in particular, left Pete feeling short-changed.

He explained: "When you go to the toilets, there's f*****g urinals. It's like a f*****g nightclub p****r." He noted that he essentially only got to see the parts of the Palace open to the general public, which fell well short of his expectations.

"It's just a public urinal, it's no different than Nando's. I can't get that excited about it," he complained.

Pete brushed aside Sam's suggestion that he might have slipped a spoon or some other trinket into his pocket as a souvenir, insisting that the occasion itself was what mattered to him and the setting was largely beside the point.

He shrugged off the Palace's historical importance, remarking: "It doesn't interest me that much, it's just a big house." Sam was somewhat more awestruck during his own royal encounter, though he confesses that he "lied to the Queen" in a moment of pure panic.

Following an introduction to Queen Camilla at a red-carpet occasion, he attempted to strike up conversation but found himself so flustered he drew a complete blank.

After momentarily attempting to captivate the Queen with discussion about air purifiers, he then found himself at a loss for words. "I thought if I pay her a compliment, she's going to hang around a little bit and ...like... linger," he confessed. So noticing she was wearing a purple dress, Sam spontaneously declared that purple was his favourite colour.

Confessing that he had to resist the urge to grab Camilla by the arm, he added: "I wanted to pay her a compliment, but she was already moving off."

Sam revealed that he felt compelled to say something memorable. He continued: "She just had a lovely conversation with Fleur East on my right, and I was like, 'Oh, they've had a great chat'. I wanted to have some sort of nice moment with her. So, I was like, "Okay, I've got to do something." And I just started talking about air purifiers – I can't remember why."

As his opening gambit, Sam had turned to that quintessentially British subject - discussing the weather. He remarked on how conditions were rather hot and humid, then proceeded to inform Camilla that he had recently purchased an air purifier from Amazon. The former Made in Chelsea star reminisced: "She went 'Oh, nice, nice,' and then walked off. I thought 'I can't leave it there. At least tell her that she looks great'."

To compound his embarrassment, Sam then noticed he had instinctively reached out to hold her back: "I managed to stop myself a good 10 centimetres short. I just sort of reikied her from the side. She did like me, I think," he concluded.