Homecoming for ex-royal butler

A former footman to the Queen who served the Royal Family at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle is the new face behind the bar of a popular village pub.

Christian Diamant, who grew up in Eastling in Faversham and went to school in Canterbury, has taken over the pumps at the White Horse Inn in Bridge.

The executive chef says it feels like returning home after spending 20 years in Cornwall.

“It’s coming home to village life,” he said.

“I have customers coming in who I knew from my teens.”

Christian admits he has packed a lot in over the years, working as a footman and under-butler for the Queen, serving at state visits and royal weddings such as that of Prince Edward and Sophie Wessex.

A move to Truro in Cornwall saw him running the area’s first gay nightclub and then opening his own bistro.

He was also an avid campaigner in the fight to legalise same-sex marriage as the founder and organiser of Cornwall Pride.

“To cut a long story short, I came back and took on Shepherd Neame’s Royal Naval Reserve in Whitstable,” he said.

“It’s an amazing high street pub, a great boozer.

“Shepherd Neame did a refurbishment but it wasn’t quite right for me.

“I now have The Smack in Whitstable and I was going to go to the Blean Tavern but that is now being sold so here I am. “I love it. “I’m a fun, flamboyant landlord who wakes up every day loving what I do.

“Coming to Bridge is like coming home.”

Mr Diamant, who lives at the family-friendly pub, writes the menus and has a “young, brilliant, chef” in the kitchen producing the food.

“I’m the landlord, the executive chef and general dogsbody,” he admits.

“I’ve brought a friend with me from London who is frontof-house, he’s worked at The Ivy, and my cousin is here from Madrid to work behind the bar.

“We have a great team.”