It was still very formal, however, and she would bring her own page and footman who would serve her supper in front of the nursery television. If the children awoke she would soothe them back to sleep. She relished those private moments with her children and in later years admitted she felt guilty about not spending more time with them. Although there was no escaping from the merry-go-round of royal duties, the Queen and Prince Philip would never go out to dinner without saying goodnight to their children. If they were going out to an official function, such as a film premier, nanny would take them out into the corridor so they could wave goodbye. Before she got into the car wearing her tiara and a long dress, the Queen would always look up to the nursery floor and see their anxious faces pressed against the glass and give them a wave, while Philip would blow a kiss.

The Queen and Philip’s theories about bringing up children had been tempered by experience. As Philip explained: ‘It’s no good saying do this, do that, don’t do this, don’t do that. It’s very easy when children want to do something to say no immediately. I think it’s quite important not to give an unequivocal answer at once. Much better to think it over. Then if you eventually say no I think they really accept it.’

When the Queen wasn’t around, Philip took charge of the children, but he became easily distracted and often let them wander off. One weekend, when he was five, Andrew took advantage of this and made his way to the Royal Mews at Windsor while his father was out carriage driving. The coachmen and grooms who worked there had little time for the prince, having often seen him aim sly kicks at the dogs and taunting the helpless guardsmen. Sensing their studied indifference and trying to attract attention, the prince started beating the ground with a large stick. No one took any notice, so Andrew doubled his efforts and beat the ground even harder, taking a sideways swipe at the legs of the horses.

When he refused to stop, two grooms picked him up, threw him into the dung heap and shovelled manure all over him. The prince was too shocked to cry, but the impact of his humiliation hit him and, when he managed to extract himself from the foul-smelling mess, he ran as fast as he could up the hill to the castle saying: ‘I’ll tell my mummy on you! I’ll tell my mummy.’ No one knows if he ever did but there were no repercussions.