Introduction -- Why everyone wants a servant -- Everyone is owned by the king -- The gentleman's gentleman: butlers, valets and footmen -- Animal magic: hunting, shooting and fishing -- Fools, jesters and human pets -- Friends in very high places -- A real revolution -- Intimate arrangements: the royal bowels and the Groom of the Stool -- Food, glorious food: eating, drinking and making merry -- Bedroom antics -- Ladies in waiting -- Lords-a-leaping (and no Jews or Catholics allowed) -- Modern times: Mystic Meg, or England versus America -- Conclusion: hail and farewell

"What really makes the royal family tick? It's a question that royal watchers have pondered for as long as the monarchy has existed. And who better to ask than the army of servants and staff past and present who feed and clothe the royals, organise their days, polish their shoes, carry the deer and pheasants they shoot and even put the toothpaste on their toothbrushes? From medieval times, when the Groom of the Stool oversaw the monarch's lavatorial exploits, and courtiers accompanied the king and queen to bed on their wedding night and made bawdy remarks until ushered out of the room, below-stairs staff have had a unique insight into the lives of their royal masters. In this lively and colourful history, royal expert Tom Quinn goes behind palace doors to give a compelling glimpse of Britain's royals, ancient and modern. Here you will find the tales of the equerry who threatened to throw Queen Victoria out of her own stables, the junior footman who had to change his name on the orders of the queen, and the lady in waiting who, with Prince Philip's mother Princess Alice, regularly set fire to her rooms at Buckingham Palace. Perhaps most intriguing of all, we see, through the eyes of serving and recently retired staff, how today's royals live - including how the relationship between Meghan and Harry and William and Kate started with high hopes and descended into bitterness and anger"--Publisher's description