Her view on Koo? ‘I wish they’d call you Kathleen’

HEADLINES in the 1980s suggested the Queen was ‘furious’ at Prince Andrew’s latest choice of girlfriend. This was utterly untrue.

She had met Koo Stark, right, previously when the actress was invited to Balmoral and had found her to be polite, bright and conversationally adept. The Queen’s only comment when the romance became public was: ‘Oh, I do wish they would call you Kathleen and Andrew.’ In her own way, she tried to change the narrative about the couple. According to Koo, she invited them for a picnic tea in full view of the paparazzi.

Koo recalled: ‘Her Majesty made a point of snapping open the News Of The World [featuring the front-page headline: Queen Bans Koo]. Her actions spoke volumes as she poured tea.’