When Charles and Anne were young, Prince Philip would take them off in a Land Rover, each with a sleeping bag, a supply of milk, tea, bread, eggs and bacon – and his mobile barbecue. They would drive high onto the moors and camp for the night in one of Queen Victoria’s little stone shelters. Water for tea and washing was fetched from a nearby burn and Philip taught them how to make a fire of dried heather and twigs.

Larger picnics for the royal family and their guests are still frequent at Balmoral. Food is ready to be loaded into the Land Rovers by ten o’clock and the royal party usually arrive at their destination by noon. Once his barbecue is going, Philip produces a rapid selection of chops, steaks, sausages and game. He not only cooks for the family but the chauffeurs and detective in the party as well. If there is a stream handy, the Queen insists on doing the washing up, but nowadays they usually lunch at one of the huts on the estate, where the Queen has better facilities for her dish-washing. When he was prime minister, Tony Blair was astounded to see the monarch in her rubber gloves doing the washing up.

‘The royals cook and serve the guests,’ Blair said. ‘They do the washing up. You think I’m joking, but I am not. They put the gloves on and stick their hands in the sink. You sit there having eaten and the Queen asks if you’ve finished, she stacks the plates and goes off to the sink.’

No doubt he missed the point and was unable to understand why, with so many staff available, the Queen should choose to do something as mundane as washing up herself. But both the Queen and Philip become very attached to their staff, who are like an extended part of the family to them, and they often take a sympathetic attitude to them when they land in trouble. On one occasion, Philip noticed that a certain footman had been missing for a few days and asked his page where he had got to. ‘He was sacked, Sir,’ the page told him. Philip wanted to know what he had done.

‘I am afraid they found him in bed with one of the housemaids, Sir,’ the page replied.

‘And they sacked him?’ the duke said, outraged. ‘They should have given him a medal!’

When he was younger, Philip’s personal staff hardly ever saw him for any length of time as he travelled so much, but now he is much older he is always around and always shouting at them. But, being used to him and knowing he doesn’t mean it, they don’t take too much notice and behind his back refer to him as ‘father’.