Prince Philip trained staff to refill his beer the moment the Queen looked away

PRINCE Philip trained Buckingham Palace staff to refill his beer the moment the Queen looked away.

The real ale fan had them move in when his wife was distracted by guests at their dinner table.

His ruse was clocked by Dame Mary Berry, 88, when she was invited to lunch.

She said: “Over lunch the Queen chatted with all of us. She looked amazing. So elegant.

“But of course she was smaller than I thought. Little beautiful hands and tiny ankles.

We sat down for lunch - just 12 of us.

“Whereas if you have a table at home, often it is oval with usually mum and dad at the top (sharper ends) and everyone else in the middle.

“But not so with the Queen and the Duke who were alive then.

“They sat in the middle. So they could talk easily to all the guests on either side. Which was very fair and normal.

“I sat next to the Duke of Edinburgh and he had his own beer. And the Queen was opposite him.

“And every time the Queen was looking the other way, I noticed his beer was filled up.”

Speaking at the Forum in Bath at the launch of her new book, Mary Makes It Easy, she added: “We talked about cooking. And he specialised in barbecuing.

“And he told me that he often used the game from Sandringham and that he would stuff them with haggis but you need a bit of breadcrumbs with haggis because it’s a little bit greasy.

“But he obviously knew what he was doing. For me it was a great pleasure to have that meeting.”