Daily Mail

A bat in the royal bedroom

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BRITANNIA’S official history records the night during a 1959 tour when one of the officers on duty, Captain North Dalrymple-Hamilton, received an agitated call from the Queen’s dresser, Margaret ‘Bobo’ MacDonald. Everyone knew that Bobo — a formidable Scot — was not to be crossed. So one can only imagine the reaction of Britannia’s duty officer as ‘Miss MacDonald’ came on the line with the words ‘There is a bat in the Queen’s bedroom and Her Majesty does not like bats.’ There was not a moment to lose. The Queen was at a dinner ashore, but would soon be returning. With a fellow officer and a pair of tennis rackets, the enterprisi­ng Dalrymple-Hamilton managed to ‘down’ the unfortunat­e bat with moments to spare — only to spot another one flapping around in the Royal Drawing Room.

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