A Brief Royal Blackout: Late Queen Elizabeth Left 'Sitting in the Dark' Thanks to Butler Error as Aides 'Left Scrambling' to Fix Blunder
According to former royal footman, Steven Kaye, the late Queen Elizabeth II was once left 'sitting in the dark' as he and other aides 'scrambled' to find candles.
The late Queen Elizabeth II was well-known for her un-royal frugality, but Her Majesty perhaps wasn't thrilled about being left "sitting in the dark" once at Windsor Castle during a power outage.
"These sorts of things do happen quite a lot, with any job where there has to be perfection, there's always going to be a lot of mistakes," former royal footman Steven Kaye, who was on duty during the outage, shared.
The role of footmen within the British monarchy dates back centuries, and those appointed are essentially "male servants" within the royal court. Among their numerous duties within multiple royal residences, the aides are also tasked with overseeing household maintenance, which includes matters involving the lighting of candles or in today's court, the changing of light bulbs.
Quick maintenance is typically expected by the reigning monarch, but Elizabeth II was a different case altogether.
This led Kaye to add, "As long as you correct those mistakes quickly, I don't think the Queen really minds. She doesn't like sloppiness, so given that it's an accident and not deliberate, she's usually OK."
The ex-footman continued, "There was one occasion where the under-butler had forgotten to put candles out on the dining table. As it so happened, for some bizarre reason in the dining room at Windsor the lights were flickering on and off, so the Queen ordered that the lights be turned off and we’d just have candlelight, well, there were no candles. We were then running down to one of the pantries to find some candles and bring them up while the Queen was virtually sitting in the dark."
Her Majesty, who was no doubt likely in the middle of a task, has long been reported to have harbored a harmonious, non-confrontational and respectful demeanor to her staff over the decades. This came to light for many when reports reflected how her grandaughter-in-law, Meghan Markle, was allegedly rude to staff in front of Britain's longest-reigning sovereign.
"Meghan got very upset when she felt that she could taste egg in a dish when she was told there was no egg in there, and she said, 'No, I can taste it, I can taste there's egg in this dish,'" author Katie Nicholl claimed.
According to Nicholl, Queen Elizabeth walked in on the incident and "quietly took Meghan to the side," where she apparently told the TV star, 43, that the royal family does not speak to people "like that."
Elizabeth II was also known for her early wish to have the British royal court continue to function in both the optics and manner it always had since the medieval era. Her Majesty was said to have "loved having lots of staff around to remind her of the importance of the office she occupied," a royal source once shared.
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Daily Mirror reported on Kaye's story.
