Fern Britton, 64, has recalled when she met the Queen in a recent interview. The former This Morning star went on to admit she was delighted by the royal’s brutally funny snub of Ant and Dec.
Fern, who is promoting her new book The Good Servant, spoke warmly about their meeting.
“It was serendipitous that I published my new book, The Good Servant, in The Queen’s Jubilee year,” she said.
“I actually started writing it two years ago. I think The Queen is great.
“I met her when ITV turned 50 and she came to a big reception,” she added.
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“She was wearing gloves and had her glass of iced martini in one hand; when she came to shake my hand her gloves were ringing wet from condensation.
“She was also very funny – she went up to Ant and Dec and said, ‘Do you two work behind the camera?’” Fern recounted to Prima UK.
Ant and Dec, whose real names are Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, are one of the UK’s biggest comedy double acts.
The legendary presenters were named the eighteenth most influential people in British culture in a 2004 poll for the BBC.
Marion, whom the book centres around, was the governess to a young Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth.
The once beloved, motherly figure was later shunned by the Royal Family after releasing a book about her time with them.
Marion was socially ostracised following the publication of her book The Little Princesses, and neither the Queen nor any other member of the Royal Family ever spoke to her again.
Neither the Queen, the Queen Mother nor Princess Margaret also sent a wreath to her funeral when she died in 1988 at the age of 78.
The August issue of Prima is on sale from 14th July, on sale now.
It is available in all supermarkets and online at MagsDirect.
The Good Servant, published by HarperCollins, is out now and available for £14.99 from Waterstones, Amazon and other retailers.
Waterstones says: “From the popular broadcaster and presenter comes a sweeping period novel about the conflict between duty and desire that reimagines the life of Marion Crawford, governess to Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, and the crucial decision she must make that will impact all of their lives.”
