The Queen was “furious” after royal protection officers helped themselves to Bombay mix and nuts left out for her around Buckingham Palace, a court heard today.
Palace officials sent a memo to royal protection officers warning them to “keep their sticky fingers out”, after Her Majesty noticed the snacks were disappearing, jurors at the Old Bailey were told.
The Queen became so incensed that she even began marking the bowls to check if the levels were dropping, it was suggested.
The extraordinary claims were revealed during evidence at the phone hacking trial, in which jurors were shown a memo sent by News of the World’s former royal editor, Clive Goodman to its then editor Andy Coulson.
Andrew Edis QC, prosecuting, explained that in the email Mr Goodman had claimed the Queen had been irritated after discovering snacks left in the corridors around the royal apartments had been going missing.
Mr Edis said: "They were all being scoffed by police. That irritated Her Majesty apparently."
In the email, which was sent by Mr Goodman in 2005, he wrote: “The Queen is furious about police stealing bowls of nuts and nibbles left out for her in the apartments in the BP [Buckingham Palace] Queen’s corridor.
“She has a very savoury tooth and staff leave out cashews, Bombay mix, almonds Etc. Prob is that police on patrol eat the lot.
“Queen is no narked she started marking the bowls to see when the levels dipped. Memo now gone around to all palace cops telling them to keep their sticky fingers out.”
As laughter broke out among jurors, the judge, Mr Justice Saunders quipped: “These are unproven allegations.”
In the same email, Mr Goodman claimed to have an inside track on the preparations for the royal wedding between the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, telling his editor he had a source who was in charge of vetting those invited.
He wrote: “Only person to accept so far is Tony Blair.”
Mr Goodman also claimed there was a “bit of friction” between Clarence House and the Church of England over the ceremony and claimed he was hoping to see an order of service.
The jury have already been told the Mr Goodman was jailed in 2007 after pleading guilty to hacking the phones of members of the royal household.
Today they were told he received a payment of £84,600 from News International, after being released from prison.
Mr Goodman, 56, from Addlestone, Surrey, is charged with Mr Coulson, 45, from Charing, Kent with two counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office between Aug. 31, 2002 and Jan. 31, 2003, and between Jan. 31, 2005 and June 3, 2005.
It is alleged Mr Goodman, with Mr Coulson’s approval, purchased two royal telephone directories from an unidentified police officer.
Mr Coulson is also accused of conspiring to hack phones between Oct. 3, 2000 and Aug. 9, 2006.
That charge is also faced by Rebekah Brooks, 45, of Churchill, Oxfordshire, Ian Edmondson, 44, of Raynes Park, south west London, and former managing editor Stuart Kuttner, 73, of Woodford Green, Essex.
Mrs Brooks also faces two counts of conspiring with others to commit misconduct in public office – one between Jan. 1, 2004 and Jan. 31, 2012, and the other between Feb. 9, 2006 and Oct. 16, 2008 – linked to alleged inappropriate payments to public officials.
She also faces two allegations of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice – one with her former personal assistant Cheryl Carter, 49, of Chelmsford, Essex, between July 6 and 9, 2011, and a second with her husband, Charles Brooks, and former News International head of security Mark Hanna and others between July 15 and July 19, 2011.
All the defendants deny all the charges.
