Andrew’s new friends . . . the ‘posh drunks’ of TV hit Gogglebox
HE often dines with world leaders and sleeps in the finest hotels – but Prince Andrew has formed an unlikely friendship with the B&B owning stars of the TV show Gogglebox.
In fact, the Duke of York has become a regular visitor to The Salutation, the very upmarket guest house run in real life by Steph and Dom Parker.
Andrew stayed last week, paying £325 a night for a room and a full English breakfast while attending a golf tournament.
Steph and Dom have won a cult following for being plummy, outspoken and never without a drink on the Channel 4 show, in which the reactions of families are filmed as they watch TV together in their homes.
But the normally voluble pair, dubbed by some as the show’s ‘posh drunks’, have been uncharacteristically discreet about the royal guest at their B&B in Sandwich, Kent. Gogglebox fans were disappointed when the couple failed to appear in the first episode of the new series last Friday. Producers said they would be back this week, but did not explain their absence.
‘The real reason,’ a source revealed, ‘is that Andrew has been at the house all week. They simply couldn’t have a television crew in there filming while he was a guest. He was there for at least two nights and it’s not the first time he has rocked up. In fact he has become pretty chummy with Steph and Dom, who are just as fun as they appear on TV.
‘Andrew is renowned for being a bit of a couch potato by staff at Buckingham Palace, so it’s the per- fect place for him to stay. Oh to be a fly on the wall if he, Steph and Dom sat down to watch TV with cameras on it. Now that would be a Gogglebox royal special.’
Andrew, who unlike his hosts has been teetotal for years, arrived at the B&B on Wednesday in a privately- chartered helicopter. He stayed until Friday, attending the Duke of York’s Young Champions Trophy, an international tourna- ment he co-founded in 2001, at Prince’s Golf Club in Sandwich.
A guest house in Kent may not be the sort of place you would expect to find a senior royal – but Steph and Dom’s manor house is rather more exclusive than your average B&B. The £3.5million, Grade-1 listed country pile designed by Sir Edwin Luytens has 16 bedrooms as well as three and half acres of gardens.
Andrew is thought to have stayed in a room known as William, featuring a 7ft emperor bed.
It was used when the B&B was rented last year for a sex party run by the swingers’ club Killing Kittens, owned by Emma Sayle, a former friend of the Duchess of Cambridge. Unbeknown to the Parkers, wealthy guests paid £500 a ticket for a no-holds-barred orgy.
A member of staff said: ‘Steph and Dom will be making no comment about the royal visit to respect the prince’s privacy.
‘They don’t tell people but everyone in Sandwich knows about it. He comes here every year.
‘The prince is quite well known by people in the town as he walks around the shops and goes to local restaurants. But the owners are keen to protect his privacy.’ Additional reporting: Alisha Rouse
‘It’s not the first time he’s rocked up’