Scandal-hit equerry finds new love with Linley aide

SUAVE Major Simon Robinson was one of the Queen’s most trusted aides as Crown Equerry. But he quit his coveted ‘job for life’ in 2011 after splitting up with his wife amid allegations of an affair, which he vigorously denied.

Now he has found love again, with a glamorous French woman connected to the Royal Family.

Major Robinson, 50, confirms he is courting Laurence-Odile Garde Due, who worked for the Queen’s nephew, the 2nd Earl of Snowdon.

She was ‘New Business Introducer’ at Linley, the London furniture business established by Lord Snowdon when he was known as Viscount Linley. ‘We are together,’ the galloping major tells me. Happily, Laurence-Odile speaks fluent English as Major Robinson admits his French is ‘not very good’.

He declines to discuss further his romance with Laurence-Odile, who is in her 40s, but one of his friends tells me the relationship is very serious, adding: ‘We expect wedding bells.’ Last autumn, the major’s appointment as secretary of the Carlton Club, the 184- year- old home to the Conservative Party establishment, caused a major row.

Some members complained he was not the right man to run the club and an anonymous cabal wrote to the chairman, Tory grandee Lord Strathclyde, in official protest.

Major Robinson’s wife Amelisa, 47, walked out on him with their two children and started divorce proceedings in 2011.

He resigned as Crown Equerry and, in a move that prompted claims of a cover-up, was handed a new role in the office which was drawing up plans for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Major Robinson was in charge of the Queen’s 34 treasured horses as well as the carriages, coaches and Rolls-Royces used at state ceremonies.

He delighted in inviting her and Prince Philip for tea at his threestorey house in the grounds of Buckingham Palace. He was one of only a handful of staff who were able to phone her directly.

It’s not known if he has introduced his new love to Her Majesty.