BOBO, THE REAL POWER IN THE FAMILY
A MAJOR test of Mike’s organisational abilities as equerry came in May 1948 when he became involved in the planning of the first State visit to be undertaken by Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh.
The destination was Paris and the journey had to be taken by train and cross-Channel ferry, since the Princess was pregnant with Prince Charles and it was considered inadvisable for her to fly.
At a crucial point, when Mike was up to his eyebrows in timetables, itineraries and schedules, Margaret ‘Bobo’ MacDonald, the Princess’s dresser, stormed in and said she wanted to know which room she had been allocated at the Embassy in Paris — and how many electric points it had and so forth.
Mike had far more important things on his mind, but what Bobo wanted, she was accustomed to getting, whether it inconvenienced anyone else or not.
To describe her as a dresser doesn’t really convey her uniquely influential position in the Royal Household.
Part of Princess Elizabeth’s life since her nursery days, Bobo was the first person whom the Princess saw in the morning and one of the last to see her at night.
She was the only person outside the Royal Family who was allowed to call the Princess by her pet name, ‘Lilibet’. No one was trusted more than Bobo, and she expected the deference due.
After Princess Elizabeth became Queen, Bobo — known to her employer as ‘Mac’ — was given her own apartment within Buckingham Palace and had a royal car at her disposal.
She ate alone, not with the other staff, and also enjoyed the liberty of coming and going by any of the palace doors. Day-to-day visitors like myself had to use the Privy Purse door in the front courtyard.