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"NO KEY. NO GATE!" William LOCKS Camilla Out Of Frogmore Gardens... The Gardener Knew Why — Transcript

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0:04And particularly being Windsor, for me,
0:05Windsor is her, so she loved it here.
0:07She's spent most of her time here.
0:08Showing you around today is very much a
0:10case I'm trying [music] to make sure I'm
0:11doing it the way she'd want you to see.
0:13>> So, at 7 minutes to 8 on a gray weekday
0:15morning, a padlock clicked shut on the
0:18inside of a gate in Windsor Home Park.
0:20The man who closed it was a gardener. He
0:23had worked in the gardens at Frogmore
0:24for more than 30 years. He was wearing a
0:27waxed jacket with mud on the cuffs, and
0:30he had a phone in his pocket that he had
0:32been told to keep switched on.
0:34He tested the lock once, pulled, it
0:37held. He checked his watch because he
0:39had been asked to remember the time.
0:42Then he checked it again because he did
0:44not trust himself that morning.
0:46A pair of crows were arguing in the
0:48cedar behind him. Mist was still lying
0:50on the lake.
0:52Somewhere over towards the castle, a
0:54bell was ringing for the start of the
0:55working day.
0:57Then he walked back up the gravel path
0:59towards the lake, and he did not look
1:01round.
1:0222 minutes later, a line of three cars
1:05came along the estate road and stopped
1:07at that gate.
1:08A photographer got out of the second car
1:10with a camera bag over each shoulder.
1:12A stylist got out with a rail of coats.
1:15Two women from Camilla's private office
1:17got out of the first car, already on
1:19their phones, [music] and the gate did
1:21not open.
1:22One of the women rattled it.
1:24Then she looked through the bars, up the
1:26path, and saw the gardener, a long way
1:29off, kneeling by a flower bed with his
1:31back to them. [music] She called out. He
1:34did not turn round. She called again,
1:36and this time she used his title, the
1:39one on the estate list. Still [music]
1:40nothing. The photographer, standing
1:43behind her with his bags, looked at his
1:45watch and then at the [music] sky. The
1:47light by the lake, the light the whole
1:50morning had been planned around, was
1:52already starting to change.
1:54That is how the morning began.
1:56By lunchtime, the story of the locked
1:58gate at Frogmore had from Windsor to
2:00Clarence House to Kensington Palace and
2:02back again.
2:04And at the center of it was one question
2:06that everyone wanted answered. Who told
2:08the gardener to lock it? Because a man
2:10who has spent 30 years on his knees in
2:12those flower beds does not turn his back
2:15on the king's wife's office by accident.
2:17[music] He does not buy his own padlock
2:19by accident.
2:20And he does not keep his phone switched
2:22on waiting unless somebody has told him
2:24that it might ring. [music] The answer
2:26was William.
2:28But the reason he did it and the reason
2:30the gardener did it without asking a
2:31single question goes back much further
2:34than that morning.
2:35It goes back to the late Queen and to
2:37something she told that gardener on a
2:39bench beside the lake years ago. Hold on
2:42a moment because the people who keep a
2:44place running are almost never the ones
2:46who get thanked and that gardener
2:48deserves better.
2:50Name the person who quietly looked after
2:52something you love. Press like if he
2:54deserves a hearing. Send this to whoever
2:56notices the work behind the scenes and
2:59join us by subscribing to Kensington
3:01Herald as William's instruction fitted
3:03on a single line.
3:05Before you hear that line, if you think
3:07William was right to keep that gate
3:09shut, type no key, no gate in the
3:11comments. Remember the phrase.
3:14Before we are done, you will know
3:16exactly who said it first and it was not
3:18William. Most people in Britain have
3:20never been inside the gardens at
3:22Frogmore.
3:24They sit in the Home Park at Windsor, a
3:26short way from the castle around
3:28Frogmore House. They are big, about 35
3:32acres, [music] and they were laid out in
3:34the 1790s for Queen Charlotte who loved
3:37botany,
3:38winding lakes, [music] wooded mounds,
3:41little bridges,
3:42glades that open up when you least
3:44expect them.
3:45Queen Victoria loved them too. She had a
3:48small tea house built there and it still
3:50stands.
3:52So does a summer house made to look like
3:54a Gothic ruin which is covered in
3:56wisteria in early summer. And the
3:58gardens have changed a little over the
4:00generations.
4:02Trees and shrubs were added in 1977 to
4:05mark the late Queen's silver Jubilee.
4:07Some of the people who planted them are
4:09still talked about by the staff today.
4:11For most of the year, the gardens are
4:13private. [music] A few times in certain
4:15years, they have opened to the public
4:17for charity days. Visitors buy a ticket,
4:20walk the paths, have a cup of tea in a
4:22tent by the house and go home. The money
4:25goes to good causes. That is the
4:27garden's public life. It is small and it
4:30is careful, and it has been run the same
4:32way for a very long time. Their private
4:35life is something else.
4:37For the family, the gardens at Frogmore
4:39have always been a place to walk without
4:41being watched, a place to be quiet. The
4:44late Queen, people who worked for her
4:46say, treated them almost like a room in
4:48her own house.
4:50You did not bring strangers into it. You
4:52did not bring cameras into it, and you
4:54certainly did not use it to sell
4:56anything. The request had come in about
4:5810 days earlier.
5:00Camilla's office had been approached by
5:02a publisher making a coffee table book
5:04about her reading, her books, her
5:06reading, her love of gardens.
5:09They wanted pictures somewhere beautiful
5:11and English and private, somewhere their
5:14readers had never seen.
5:16Somebody in Camilla's office suggested
5:18Frogmore. The publisher was delighted.
5:21Its editor sent back a mood board within
5:23a day. Camilla on the little bridge.
5:26Camilla with a book on the steps of the
5:27tea house. Camilla walking her dogs
5:30through the mist by the water. There was
5:32even a working headline penciled in at
5:34the top of the page, her secret garden.
5:37It was on paper, not a ridiculous idea.
5:40The gardens are royal. They are close to
5:42Windsor. [music] The light by the lake
5:44in the morning is famous among the
5:45people who know it. The office sent a
5:48polite note to the team that looks after
5:50the estate. It asked for access for a
5:52small crew on a weekday morning for
5:54about 4 hours with use of the area
5:57around the tea house for a set of
5:59portraits.
6:00The note was copied, as these things
6:02are, to a handful of people across
6:04households. One of them worked for
6:06William, and people close to William say
6:09that when he read it, he went very quiet
6:12and then asked a question nobody
6:13expected. Who's the head gardener at
6:16Frogmore at the moment? His aide looked
6:18it up. [music] It was not the man in the
6:20wax jacket. That man was not the head of
6:23anything. He was simply the one who had
6:25been there longest. Not the head,
6:28William said, the one who's been there
6:30since Granny's time.
6:32Is he still there? He was.
6:35Ask him to ring me, William said. Before
6:37that call ever happened, Camilla's
6:39office began to chase. A member of her
6:42staff rang the estate office two days
6:44after the note went in, then again the
6:46next morning. She wanted the access
6:48confirmed in writing, she said, because
6:51the publisher needed to book its crew
6:53and its stylist, [music] and the
6:55photographer had turned down other work
6:57to keep the morning free.
6:58The deputy who took the calls was in an
7:00awkward spot.
7:02Nobody had said no, nobody had said yes,
7:05and a copy of the request was now
7:07sitting unanswered on a desk at
7:10Kensington Palace. Is there a
7:12difficulty? [music] The woman from
7:13Clarence House asked on the third call.
7:16Not that I've been told, Madam. Then may
7:19I take it as agreed? [music] The deputy
7:21says he looked at the phone in his hand
7:23for a long moment. I'd rather you
7:25didn't, Madam, he said. Not until I've
7:28heard back. [music] The line went quiet.
7:31Then she thanked him very coolly and
7:33rang off. By the end of the day, people
7:36say Clarence House had told the
7:38publisher that the shoot was as good as
7:40confirmed. The gardener did not ring
7:42that day.
7:44He did not have William's number, and
7:46when the message reached him through two
7:48other people, he assumed it was a
7:50mistake. So William rang him. [music] It
7:53was a Thursday evening. The gardener was
7:55at home in a small estate cottage with
7:58his tea on the table.
8:00He picked up the phone and heard a voice
8:02he had last heard in person when William
8:04was about 14, running down a path at
8:07Frogmore with his brother, being told
8:09off for jumping on a bridge.
8:11>> And I remember my grandmother being the
8:13first person out of Balmoral, uh,
8:15running across the lawn in her kilt, um,
8:17and, uh, came charging over and gave us
8:19the most mighty bollocking.
8:20>> I don't know if you remember me, William
8:22said. The gardener says he laughed out
8:24loud. They talked for a while about
8:26nothing much, the lake, the tulip trees,
8:30whether the redwoods were still doing
8:31well.
8:32And then William asked the question he
8:34had rung to ask.
8:36Did my grandmother ever say anything to
8:37you about people taking photographs in
8:39the gardens?
8:41The line went quiet. It stayed quiet.
8:44She did, sir, the gardener said, once,
8:47only once, [music] but she meant it.
8:50Will you tell me? I'd rather tell you in
8:52the garden, sir, if you don't mind. It's
8:55the kind of thing she said in the
8:56garden. William could have pressed him.
8:59He did not. Then I'll come to the
9:00garden, he said. Tomorrow? Tomorrow's
9:03fine, sir, early if you can,
9:06before anybody else is about. Why before
9:09anybody else? There was a short pause,
9:12and then the gardener said something
9:13that William, people close to him say,
9:16[music] has repeated since. Because
9:18she'd have wanted it that way, sir,
9:20quiet, [music] nobody watching. So
9:22William drove down to Windsor the next
9:24morning on his own, apart from his
9:26protection officer. He did not tell
9:28anyone at Clarence House he was going.
9:30They met on a bench beside the lake. The
9:33gardener had brought two mugs of tea in
9:35a flask. William, people say, had
9:37brought nothing and apologized for it.
9:40The gardener told him not to be daft.
9:42For a few minutes neither of them said
9:44anything.
9:45A heron lifted off the far bank. [music]
9:47The protection officer had stayed back
9:49by the path, out of earshot, the way he
9:52had been asked to. William told the
9:54gardener about the book, about the tea
9:56house,
9:57about the portraits by the lake.
9:59He did not say whose shoot it was. He
10:02did not have to.
10:03The gardener listened and nodded [music]
10:05and poured more tea. Is she going to be
10:08angry, sir? he asked. Very, William
10:11"Is that going to be a problem?" "Not
10:13for me, sir," the gardener said, [music]
10:15"might be for you." And then the
10:17gardener told him what the late queen
10:19had said.
10:20was many years ago. A photographer,
10:22working on a book, had been given
10:24permission to take pictures of the
10:26gardens. Nothing wrong with that. But
10:28one morning the gardener had found him
10:30setting up a shot in front of the tea
10:32house with two people the gardener did
10:34not know, both in expensive clothes,
10:37posing as if the place belonged to them.
10:39They were friends of somebody, being
10:41photographed for a society page. The
10:44gardener had not known what to do, so he
10:46had done nothing. [music] And later that
10:48week, the late queen had walked through
10:50the gardens as she often did, and
10:53stopped beside him at this exact bench.
10:55She had seen the pictures.
10:57Somebody had shown her.
10:59"She wasn't cross with me," the gardener
11:01told William. "She was very kind about
11:03it, [music] but she said something I've
11:05never forgotten." "What did she say?"
11:08The gardener put his mug down on the
11:10bench. [music] "She said, this garden
11:12isn't for being seen in, it's for being
11:14left alone in. [music] If anyone ever
11:17comes here to be photographed, you don't
11:19need to ask me.
11:20No key, no gate." William sat without
11:23speaking. Out on the water, a moorhen
11:26called once and went quiet. At last he
11:29said, "Did she ever say that to anyone
11:31else?" "Not that I know of, sir. I think
11:34she said it to me because I was the one
11:35who'd be standing at the gate."
11:37William looked out across the water for
11:39a while. "You know why I'm asking," he
11:41said. "I've heard, sir. Word gets round
11:44the estate. [music] If I put that
11:46instruction in writing, it'll be you at
11:48the gate, not me. You'll be the one they
11:51shout at." The gardener shrugged. "I've
11:53been shouted at by better, sir."
11:55"Your grandmother's corgis, mostly."
11:58William laughed. Then he stopped
12:00laughing. "I mean it. If you'd rather
12:02not, I'll find another way." "Nobody
12:04would think less of you." "She would,"
12:06[music]
12:07the gardener said simply. "She asked me,
12:09not you, sir." "With respect."
12:12"Me. So that is where the phrase came
12:14from
12:15not William [music]
12:16not a palace statement the late Queen on
12:19a bench to a gardener with mud on his
12:21cuffs. William drove back to London that
12:24afternoon.
12:25That evening he did two things. The
12:27first was to ring his father. The king
12:30was at home that week [music] and people
12:31say the call was short and calm. William
12:34told him what the gardener had said.
12:36[music] The king by every account
12:38listened and then said that he
12:40remembered his mother talking that way
12:42about Frogmore and that he would not
12:44overrule her wishes about her own
12:45garden.
12:46Will Camilla mind? William asked.
12:49The line went silent for a moment. Yes,
12:52[music] the king said, she will. She'll
12:55mind very much and she'll mind that it
12:57came from you.
12:58Another pause. Is there a way to do this
13:01that doesn't end with her standing at a
13:02gate? I'll write to the estate team
13:05tonight, William [music] said. It'll be
13:07clear.
13:08Nobody will be confused. The king,
13:11people say, sighed. Clear isn't always
13:14the same as kind, William.
13:15He did not tell William what to do next.
13:18He did not stop him either.
13:20The second thing William did was write a
13:22short message to the estate team.
13:24It was sent from his office the next
13:26morning. [music] It was a single line.
13:28Frogmore Gardens, no cameras, no access.
13:32The late Queen's wish. That was all.
13:35The estate team, people [music] say,
13:37read it and did not quite know what to
13:39make of it. It was unusual for William
13:41to send an instruction about Windsor at
13:43all.
13:44But it was clear and it came with a name
13:46attached.
13:48They sent a copy to the gardener. The
13:50gardener read it in his kitchen, folded
13:52it and put it in the pocket of his wax
13:54jacket. [music]
13:55Then his phone rang. It was the estate
13:58manager.
13:59A decent man, the gardener says, and a
14:01worried one. [music] You don't have to
14:03be the one on the gate tomorrow, the
14:05manager told him.
14:07I can send one of the younger lads
14:08[music] or I can go myself. You've got
14:11nothing to prove to anybody.
14:13Who's going to explain it to them then?
14:15The gardener [music] asked. Nobody needs
14:17to explain anything. The gate's locked.
14:20That's the instruction. That's not what
14:22she said though. The gardener said, she
14:24said I'd be the one standing there, not
14:26you, not a lad, me. She said that years
14:30ago. She did and I'm still here. The
14:33manager tried once more. [music] He
14:35reminded the gardener that the people
14:37coming were from Camilla's office, that
14:39they would be angry, that someone might
14:41complain about him by name. Then they'll
14:43complain, the gardener said. I've been
14:46complained about before, usually over
14:48the compost. The manager laughed despite
14:51himself and gave up and the gardener
14:53went to bed. The message did not
14:56crucially reach Camilla's private office
14:58in time or if it did, nobody there read
15:01it before the cars set off.
15:03Picture the person asked to hold the
15:05gate while everyone else went home.
15:07Maybe that person was you.
15:09Say whether you've been shut out or the
15:11one doing the shutting. Press like if a
15:13promise on a garden bench still counts.
15:16Send this to whoever once stood their
15:17ground for you and join us by
15:19subscribing to Kensington Herald. As
15:22that gate was about to get loud.
15:24So we come back to the gate seven
15:26minutes to eight. The padlock clicked
15:28shut on the inside. 22 minutes later,
15:31three cars. The two women from Camilla's
15:34office rattled the gate, called out and
15:36got no answer. One of them rang the
15:38estate office.
15:40The estate office very politely said
15:43there had been an instruction [music]
15:44and that the gardens were closed to
15:46photography. Closed by whom? By the
15:49Prince of Wales's office, madam.
15:51There was a pause. [music]
15:52On whose authority? The late Queen's,
15:54madam. That's what it says. [music]
15:57The woman put the phone down and stared
15:59at the gate. The photographer, people
16:01who were there say, [music] was the
16:03first to laugh, not unkindly.
16:06He had worked with royal households for
16:0720 years and he knew when a morning was
16:10over. He started packing up his bags.
16:13[music] The stylist sat down on the
16:14bumper of the second car and lit a
16:17cigarette.
16:18The second woman from Camilla's office
16:20was not ready to give up. She walked
16:22back to the main gate, put both hands on
16:24the bars and called up the path again,
16:27louder this time. [music] Excuse me, we
16:30are expected. We are here from Clarence
16:32House. The gardener did not move. Do you
16:36know who we're here for? She called. Do
16:38you have any idea whose shoot this is?
16:41Her colleague touched her arm and said
16:42something quietly. [music] The woman
16:44shook her off. I'm going to need your
16:46name, she called. Do you hear me? I'm
16:49going to need your name for the report.
16:51Up by the flower bed, the gardener says
16:54he heard every word. He went on pressing
16:57the soil down around the same plant over
16:59and over long after it needed it.
17:02One of the women from Camilla's office
17:04tried a different approach.
17:06She walked along the fence line to see
17:08whether there was another way in. There
17:10is more than one gate into those
17:11gardens. She found a second one, a
17:14smaller one set into the wall further
17:16along. [music] It was locked too
17:19from the inside with a brand new padlock
17:22that still had the price sticker on the
17:24bottom. The gardener had bought it
17:25himself the evening before at a hardware
17:29shop in Windsor.
17:30He had paid for it out of his own
17:31pocket. He says he did not want anyone
17:34to say the estate had spent money
17:35keeping Camilla out. And the gardener, a
17:38long way up the path, kept on kneeling
17:40by his flower bed. He says that his
17:42hands were shaking slightly. He did not
17:45like being rude. He had never ignored
17:47anybody calling him in his life.
17:50But he remembered the bench and he
17:52remembered the voice and he kept his
17:54back turned. Within the hour, Camilla
17:57knew she was at Clarence House, people
17:59say, when the call came through from her
18:01office. She listened. [music]
18:03She asked for the instruction to be read
18:05out to her. Then she asked to hear it a
18:07second time. The late Queen's wish, she
18:10repeated. And who decided what the late
18:13Queen wanted? Nobody had a reply ready.
18:16She tried to reach the king. He was in
18:18meetings. She left a message.
18:21And for the next hour or so, the gate
18:23looked like Camilla's to keep.
18:25A senior figure at the castle, who had
18:27not yet seen William's message, rang the
18:30estate manager and asked, quite
18:32reasonably, why a gate was being held
18:35shut against the king's own wife. Was
18:37there really a written instruction?
18:39Could it not be opened just for the
18:41morning to save everybody embarrassment?
18:44The estate manager, already worried,
18:46said he would see what could be done. He
18:48took the spare keys from the office and
18:50got as far as his car.
18:52Down at the [music] gate, word went
18:53round that someone was on the way with
18:55keys. The photographer, who had half
18:57packed, unzipped his bag again.
19:01One of the women from Camilla's office
19:02told the others, loudly enough for the
19:04gardener to hear, [music] that it was
19:06all being sorted.
19:07The gardener went on pressing the soil
19:09down.
19:10The estate manager sat in his car with
19:12the keys on the passenger seat [music]
19:14and did not start the engine. He had
19:16decided, he said later, to wait for one
19:19more phone call.
19:20Then she did something that surprised
19:22her staff. She asked for the car. She
19:25was going to Windsor. In London, at
19:27almost exactly that moment, William's
19:30private secretary knocked on his door.
19:32Sir, Clarence House have just been on.
19:35Her car has left for Windsor. She's
19:37going to the gate herself. William put
19:39his pen down. Do you want me to ring
19:41ahead, sir, or ring her? We could still
19:44tell her the gate's not going to open.
19:46Save her the drive. Those in the room
19:49say William did not answer for some
19:50time.
19:52He looked at the window, then at the
19:53phone on his desk. If I ring her now, he
19:56said slowly, she'll ask me to open it.
19:59And I'll have to say no to her face on
20:02the phone with her halfway down the
20:03motorway. With respect, sir, she's going
20:06to hear no either way. I know. He did
20:09not pick up the phone.
20:11Later, he would say that this was the
20:12one part of the whole business he got
20:14wrong. But that morning, he let the car
20:17keep going. She arrived a little before
20:19noon. [music] The books crew had long
20:21gone. The cars were gone.
20:24But the gate was still locked, and
20:26through the bars, the path still ran up
20:28towards the lake. Camilla got out of the
20:30car and walked to the gate herself.
20:33[music] And this time, the gardener
20:35turned round. He walked down the path
20:37towards her, slowly. He took his cap off
20:40when he reached the gate.
20:42They stood on either side of it, Camilla
20:44on the outside,
20:46the gardener on the inside. Good
20:48morning, [snorts] ma'am, he said. Is it?
20:50said Camilla. Those close enough to hear
20:53say her tone was not furious. It was
20:55something harder to read, tired perhaps,
20:58or cornered. Who told you to lock this?
21:01she asked. His Royal Highness, ma'am,
21:03the Prince of Wales. And who told him?
21:06The gardener hesitated. Then he told her
21:09the truth. I did, ma'am. Well, the late
21:12queen did. I just passed it on. He told
21:15her about the bench, about the
21:17photographer years ago,
21:19about the words. He did not soften them.
21:22This garden isn't for being seen in.
21:25It's for being left alone in. Camilla
21:27listened to the whole thing without
21:29interrupting. When he finished, she
21:31looked past him up the path towards the
21:34lake. For a few seconds, she was silent.
21:37Then she said, She never said that to
21:39me. No, ma'am, the gardener said. I
21:42don't think she said it to anybody but
21:44me.
21:45What came next [music]
21:46is what people still argue about most.
21:48Camilla asked him to open the gate,
21:51not for the book. The crew had gone.
21:53She simply asked to walk in the gardens
21:56on her own for a while, [music]
21:57and the gardener had to decide. The
21:59instructions said, no photography, no
22:02access.
22:03It did not say [music]
22:05no access for the king's wife on her
22:06own. He could have read it either way.
22:09He could have rung the estate office and
22:11asked. He could have rung William. He
22:13did none of those things.
22:15He stood there with the key in his
22:16pocket, and he looked at her. Then he
22:19said, I'm sorry, ma'am, not today.
22:22[music] Camilla did not argue. People
22:24who were there say she nodded just once
22:27as if she had expected it.
22:29Then she turned, walked back to her car,
22:31and was driven away.
22:33In the back of the car she made one call
22:36to the King's private office.
22:38She did not ask for the gate to be
22:40opened.
22:41People who later heard about the call
22:42say she asked something else entirely.
22:45Did my husband know about this? The
22:47official who took it says he chose his
22:49words carefully. [music] The King had
22:51been told that William had concerns
22:52about the shoot. He had not been told
22:54about padlocks or gates or a gardener
22:57with his back turned.
22:59So nobody thought to tell me, Camilla
23:01said, and nobody thought to tell him.
23:04I'm afraid it seems that way.
23:06Ma'am, then somebody had better tell him
23:08now, she said, before he reads it in the
23:11papers. He did. Within half an hour the
23:14King had heard the whole story.
23:17And it was the part about his wife
23:18standing at a locked gate being told no
23:21by a member of staff that people say
23:23made him put his head in his hands.
23:26The gardener stood at the gate for a
23:28long time afterwards. [music] He says he
23:30felt hollow. He says he was certain he
23:32would be out of a job within days.
23:35That afternoon a formal complaint
23:37arrived at the estate office from
23:39Clarence House. [music] It was two
23:41paragraphs long.
23:43It described the gardener's discourtesy
23:45towards members of Camilla's household
23:48and it named him.
23:49The estate manager rang him at home and
23:51read it to him. What happens now? The
23:54gardener asked.
23:55Now, said the manager, I send it to
23:58Kensington Palace because it was their
24:00instruction you were following and we
24:02see what they say. What they said
24:04arrived the same evening, a short reply
24:07from William's office copied to Clarence
24:09House.
24:10It said the gardener had acted on a
24:12direct instruction from the Prince of
24:14Wales that any complaint about the gate
24:16should be addressed to the Prince
24:17himself and that the gardener was not to
24:20be contacted about it again.
24:22He was not out of a job.
24:24He was not even spoken to. By the
24:26evening the story had leaked. Not the
24:28details, just the outline. A publisher's
24:31crew turned away from a royal garden, a
24:34gate locked on William's orders,
24:36Camilla arriving in person and being
24:38refused. It was the kind of story that
24:41splits people right down the middle.
24:43Some saw it as William, once again,
24:45[music]
24:46putting the late Queen's wishes above
24:47his father's wife and using a gardener
24:50to do it. Cruel, they said, to make an
24:53old man turn her away at a gate.
24:55Others saw it as the simplest thing in
24:57the world. [music] The late Queen said
24:59no cameras. Somebody brought cameras.
25:02The gate stayed shut. Camilla's office,
25:04for its part, said nothing publicly,
25:07but privately people say there was real
25:09anger.
25:10One member of her staff complained that
25:12the instruction had been deliberately
25:14timed to catch them out. Another said
25:17that if William had wanted to stop the
25:19shoot, he could have simply rung.
25:21When that reached William, he answered
25:23it in one sentence to his own office. I
25:26didn't stop a photo shoot. My
25:28grandmother did. I just found out about
25:30it in time. [music] The row did not stay
25:32inside the offices for long.
25:34The next afternoon, at a routine meeting
25:37between the households,
25:39Camilla's private secretary raised it
25:41across the table with Williams. You
25:43turned a member of Camilla's staff away
25:45at a gate like a delivery van, she said,
25:48and then you sent a gardener to deal
25:49with Camilla herself. Nobody sent him,
25:52Williams's private secretary said. He
25:55was there because he's always there. He
25:58was there because your prince wanted
25:59somebody else to say no for him. That,
26:02according to those at the table, was the
26:04line that made everyone else go very
26:06quiet. Williams's private secretary took
26:09a moment before he answered.
26:11The instruction went out with his Royal
26:13Highness's name on it, he said.
26:15Nobody was hiding behind anybody.
26:18If Camilla would like to raise it with
26:20him, he'll take the call. No such call
26:23came, not that week. The King, [music]
26:26people close to him say, was not happy
26:28about any of it.
26:30Not the shoot, not the gate,
26:32not the sight of his wife being turned
26:34away by a member of staff. He spoke to
26:37Camilla that night, and then he spoke to
26:39William. It was William's call that
26:42people remember because the king, by
26:44every account, did not tell William he
26:47was wrong.
26:48He told him he should have warned
26:49Camilla himself. You knew she was
26:52coming, the king said. You let her drive
26:54to a locked gate. [music] And William,
26:57people close to him say, did not argue.
27:00He said his father was right about that.
27:02He said he should have rung her. He said
27:04he had thought that writing to the
27:05estate team was enough, and that it was
27:07not.
27:08Then he said something else.
27:10But I'm not changing the instruction,
27:12Pa. It wasn't mine to give in the first
27:14place. The king paused. Then he said,
27:17No.
27:18I don't suppose it was. [music] When the
27:20call ended, Catherine found William
27:22sitting on the stairs at Forest Lodge
27:24with the phone still in his hand. Was he
27:27angry? she [music] asked. No, worse. He
27:30was right.
27:32William turned the phone over. I let her
27:34drive all that way to a locked gate
27:36because I didn't want to have the
27:37conversation.
27:39So have it now, Catherine said. [music]
27:41In a letter? In your own handwriting,
27:44she said. Not your offices. [music] And
27:46tell her the bit about the bench. She
27:48deserves to know it wasn't just you. Two
27:51days later, Camilla received a short
27:53handwritten letter from William.
27:55People who have heard about it say it
27:57was polite and careful and did not take
27:59anything back. It apologized that she
28:02had driven to Windsor and found the gate
28:04locked without warning.
28:06It said that was his mistake, not the
28:08gardener's and not her staff's. And it
28:11told her, briefly, what the late queen
28:13had said on the bench.
28:15It ended with one line that people close
28:18to Camilla say she read more than once.
28:20[music] If you'd like to walk there any
28:22day on your own, I'll make sure the gate
28:25is open. Just no cameras. That's all she
28:28asked. [music] Camilla did not reply in
28:30writing. She did, though, take the
28:32letter through to the king that evening
28:34and put it down on the arm of his chair.
28:36Have you read this? She asked. He had
28:39not. He read it while she stood there.
28:41He's apologizing, the king said when he
28:43had finished.
28:45For the drive, Camilla [music] said, not
28:47for the gate number. He's not sorry
28:50about the gate.
28:51The king folded the letter and handed it
28:54back to her. But he's offered you the
28:56garden, darling, on your own, [music]
28:58whenever you like.
28:59Mummy never offered that to anybody.
29:02Camilla looked at the letter for a long
29:03moment. She never offered me very much
29:06at all, she said. [music] The king did
29:08not answer that.
29:09Those around him say it is the one line
29:11from that whole week that he has never
29:13repeated to anybody. But not long
29:15afterwards, the gardener noticed
29:17something. On a quiet weekday morning, a
29:20single car came along the estate road.
29:23No photographer, no stylist, no rail of
29:26coats, just Camilla, a protection
29:28officer, and her two dogs. The gate was
29:31open. William had arranged it. She
29:34walked the path to the lake on her own.
29:36She sat on a bench for about 20 minutes.
29:39Not the gardener's bench, a different
29:41one on the far side of the water. Then
29:44she walked back, nodded to the gardener
29:45at the gate and left.
29:47As she passed, one of the dogs ran to
29:49the gardener and sat at his boots,
29:51[music] the way dogs do with people who
29:53keep biscuits in their pockets. Camilla
29:55called it back. It did not come.
29:58The gardener bent down, rubbed its ears,
30:00and sent it after her. She stopped just
30:03for a second and looked back at him. He
30:05says she did not say a word to him.
30:08He also says she did not bring a camera.
30:11The gardener is near the end of his
30:12working life now. He has been asked more
30:15than once by people around the estate
30:18whether he regrets the morning he kept
30:20his back turned. He always says the same
30:22thing. I didn't lock that gate for the
30:24prince. I locked it for her.
30:27The old queen, she told me once, and I'm
30:30the only one who heard it. If I hadn't
30:32done it, nobody would have known she'd
30:34ever said it. A late queen to a gardener
30:37on a bench by the water.
30:39That is who said it first, not William,
30:42not the palace.
30:44If you think that gate should stay shut
30:46to cameras for good, type [music] no
30:48key, no gate below, so everyone who
30:50still looks after those gardens can see
30:52you are with them. Before this screen
30:54goes dark, do one small thing for the
30:57gardener. Press like if that garden
30:59should stay hers and send this to the
31:01person who first showed you that your
31:03word is your word.
31:05Then, because men like him spend whole
31:07lives keeping promises nobody else
31:09heard, name someone in the comments who
31:11kept their word long after anyone was
31:13checking.
31:14And join us by subscribing to Kensington
31:16Herald [music] as William had one more
31:18call to take that week. Next on
31:20Kensington Herald, a helicopter is
31:22booked to take Camilla to Sandringham
31:25and the pilot calls William first.
31:27The fog is already rolling in when that
31:29one begins, but down by the water, for
31:32as long as that gardener holds the key,
31:34the answer has not changed. No key, no
31:37gate.

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