The Queen’s Loyal Butler
Queen Elizabeth II had a secret diary which she updated every night for over seventy years. Now King Charles III has entrusted the diary – and other documents classified as “top secret” – to one of the men his mother trusted the most: Paul Whybrew, nicknamed by the British tabloids, for his discretion, “the silent butler”. Mr. Whybrew, also known as “Tall Paul” (he is over six feet tall), is the man who in 1982 knocked out the intruder who had sneaked into the Queen’s bedroom at Buckingham Palace. That’s how he won the trust of the late sovereign, who in the following years put him at the top of the royal staff.
Ultimate Reward for Loyalty
Now that the Queen is no longer there, it is up to the loyal butler (in retirement) to “study” those pages, kept in the castle of Windsor, which also tell the more private side of the queen. He will decide which part of the documentation can be released in the National Archives and which, being too sensitive or personal, will remain confidential, and kept in the archives of King Charles. Mr. Whybrew, who is about 60 years old and has served the Queen for 44 years, would have been “pleasantly surprised” by the task given to him by King Charles. In exchange for his delicate work, he has been given a cottage within the grounds of Windsor Castle where he can live for life. “Tall Paul,” according to the British tabloids, spends about two days a week sifting through priceless documents. And to avoid damaging the old papers, he has to handle them strictly with gloves on. King Charles could have entrusted the handwritten pages to a team of historians, instead he chose Paul. Because, as a palace source explained to a daily newspaper, the monarch “needed someone he could trust for this task, someone who will never say a word about anything he finds. Tall Paul is the keeper of the Queen’s secrets. There is no one else to whom the king would have entrusted such an important job. This is the ultimate reward for his loyalty”.
The Queen’s Secrets
In a few months, when his task is complete, the butler will present the catalog of documents to the king, who will make the final decisions on which to make public and which to keep confidential. What is exactly written in Queen Elisabeth’s diaries, of course, nobody knows. According to the British press, however, in those pages the monarch would have narrated in detail her meetings with Diana to discuss the separation from Charles, the conversations with Prince Harry regarding Megxit, and her opinions on the fifteen rulers appointed in seventy years of Reign. And to avoid damaging the old papers, he has to handle them strictly with gloves on.
