Queen 'takes care of everybody' - goddaughter lifts lid on monarch's private life
THE Queen has been described as incredibly caring by her goddaughter, in a rare chat about the monarch's private life.
Alexander Armstrong discusses Queen's letters to goddaughter
The Queen is "incredible", her goddaughter Victoria Pryor said in a documentary marking the monarch's 95th birthday. Mrs Pryor, who is a great-niece of the Queen Mother, recalled the kindness the monarch and her mother have always shown to her family.
Appearing on the ITV programme 'The Queen and Her Cousins with Alexander Armstrong', Mrs Pryor described the Queen saying: "She's incredible, the way she looks after everybody."
As a child, Mrs Pryor continued, she would always get a present from the monarch.
She said: "I always got a Christmas present. Always.
"I got a set of Winnie the Pooh books. I got Twister."
Explaining the bond between her family and the royals goes back decades, Mrs Pryor said: "We’re all just perfectly ordinary people.
"The Queen Mother and my granny were very close and the Queen Mother was unbelievably fond of mummy and her siblings."
Mrs Pryor is the daughter of the Hon Margaret Rhodes - whose own mother was Mary Bowes-Lyon, the Queen Mother's sister.
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Mrs Rhodes was one of the then Princess Elizabeth's bridesmaids at the wedding with Prince Philip in November 1947.
She did not attend the Queen's coronation in June 1953 because she was pregnant with Victoria, the second of her four children.
The bond between Mrs Rhodes' family and the royals is so strong the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and the Queen attended the nuptials of Mrs Pryor and her second husband John in 1999.
Yet, despite being a family friend, Mrs Pryor still needs to abide by a few royal rules when she is in the company of the Queen.
She told Mr Armstrong: "Mummy called her [the Queen] Lilibet but we call her Ma'am.
"If she's staying then the first thing in the morning you curtsy, and then you don’t have to curtsy after that. That's the etiquette."
Mrs Pryor also confessed what life she thinks the Queen would have liked to live had she not become the head of state.
Yet, despite being a family friend, Mrs Pryor still needs to abide by a few royal rules when she is in the company of the Queen.
She told Mr Armstrong: "Mummy called her [the Queen] Lilibet but we call her Ma'am.
"If she's staying then the first thing in the morning you curtsy, and then you don’t have to curtsy after that. That's the etiquette."
Mrs Pryor also confessed what life she thinks the Queen would have liked to live had she not become the head of state.
"Which I’m afraid I’m not very keen on."
Asked about her views on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Princess Olga replied: “Not great. The Queen’s never sat there and said about anything that makes her miserable, has she?”
She then continued: “The Queen has always got on with it.
"A bit of mystique and all that is a very good thing.”