Queen’s unexpected ritual of washing the dishes would leave dinner guests shocked
Queen Elizabeth II reportedly found washing the dishes to be a soothing and therapeutic task
Despite her position as the longest-reigning monarch in British history, Queen Elizabeth II was known for her down-to-earth approach behind palace walls – including washing the dishes.
While the royal family is known to be supported by a team of dedicated staff, it turns out Her Majesty occasionally preferred to get stuck in herself, particularly when it came to washing the dishes.
Queen Elizabeth’s household habit
In Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait, royal biographer Gyles Brandreth revealed that the Queen found washing up to be therapeutic.
She would often surprise guests by donning rubber gloves and heading straight to the sink after meals.
Former Prime Minister David Cameron recounted his own jaw-dropping experience during a visit to Balmoral.
Speaking to Gyles, he said: “I’m not making this up. You sat down, and Prince Philip and Her Majesty The Queen served your dinner and cleared it away, and washed it up while you sat talking with the other guests.
“I remember thinking: ‘Well, I now surely can help,’ and got up and got on the Marigolds and started doing the washing-up. And I remember Her Majesty saying: ‘What on earth is the Prime Minister doing?’ I’d broken with the protocol and rapidly sat back down and did what I was told.”
‘It was quite an experience’
The queen’s surprising hands-on approach wasn’t limited to world leaders.
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Dickie Arbiter, her former press secretary, also shared his own story from a private lunch at Balmoral, which ended with the monarch quite literally elbow-deep in suds.
“There were only four of us at this lunch. The Queen, her lady-in-waiting, Prince Philip, and myself,” Dickie told True Royalty TV. “It lasted about 45 minutes, with china plates, silver cutlery, and Tupperware that we helped ourselves from.
“At the end of it, the Queen said, ‘We’ve got to clear up.'”
“I took it as my cue as the junior flunky to do the washing up. So I went into the kitchen and started washing up. I heard this footfall behind me and assumed it was the lady-in-waiting coming to give me a hand..
“I said over my shoulder without even turning, ‘Okay, I’ll wash you dry.’
“But this very familiar voice behind me said, ‘No, I’ll wash, you dry’. It was the queen.”
To his amazement, the monarch rolled up her sleeves and began washing without gloves, chatting as they cleaned up together.
“She plunged her hands into the fairy liquid, no gloves. It was quite an experience to do a bit of domesticity with a head of state,” Dickie quipped.
These rare insights into the queen’s private life reveal a monarch who remained humble and hands-on, even when it came to doing the dishes.
Read more: Queen called ‘Prince Harry and Meghan Markle a catastrophe’ weeks before her death
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