Crown’s royal adviser answers ‘the anoraks’

FROM a “sloppy” salute by the Queen, to the Duke of Edinburgh shooting pheasants in August, mistakes in The Crown have not escaped sharp-eyed viewers.

But the Netflix show’s expert in royal protocol has explained how far he goes to get the details right, describing people who point out errors as “anoraks”.

Major David Rankin-hunt, a member of t he Royal household for 33 years, said his attention to detail extended to interrupting scenes in which Josh O’connor appeared as the Prince of Wales after spotting that the flaps on the pockets of hi s doublebreasted suits were visible. The real Prince of Wales tucks them in.

“I felt it was my job to try and minimise the opportunities for people, the anoraks out there, to find something to criticise,” he said in The Crown’s official podcast.

Maj Rankin-hunt was registrar at the Lord Chamberlain’s Office and later the administrator of the Royal Collection, a position he held until his retirement in 2014.

His duties include advising cast members on etiquette, including how to bow, ensuring that furniture and props are accurate.

He said: “At garden parties,

‘It was my job to try and minimise the opportunities for people to criticise’

for instance, umbrellas are always tightly furled. It ’s almost a badge of office. So we’d go around furling the umbrellas very tightly.”

Maj Rankin-hunt said that working on the set of The Crown was more fun than working at the Palace. “It was nice to be introduced to the real world. I don’t mean that in a disparaging way of the Royal household but obviously it’s an institution that is perhaps a tiny bit old-fashioned in some ways,” he said.