Queen Elizabeth’s Bath Rule Requires Staff to Measure Water’s Depth and Temperature
When Queen Elizabeth wakes up at Buckingham Palace, she starts her day like anyone else. But also, a little different: The queen has the financial privilege to employ a personal bagpiper as well as a an employee to monitor and measure their bath. The world’s longest-reigning monarch enjoys her morning bath at a precise temperature and depth, and that’s exactly what she gets.
Her Majesty rarely stays up past 11 p.m., she enjoys reading in bed, and she rises at around 7:30 every morning. The queen is a stickler for routine and tends to engage in more or less the same activities every day, explains the UK Daily Mail.
The queen’s perfect morning
On any given night, Queen Elizabeth sleeps by herself with a police sergeant stationed right outside her royal bedroom. The security guard used to end his shift at 6:30 in the morning.
But after an intruder broke into the palace and disturbed the Queen at 7 a.m. back in 1982, the guard now remains on duty until Elizabeth wakes up and begins her day. Prince Philip spends his nights in a suite of rooms down the hall.
At precisely 7:30, the queen’s royal staffer knocks softly and enters Her Majesty’s pale green bedroom bearing a silver tray upon which are a pot of the Queen’s favorite Earl Grey morning tea, a bone china teacup and saucer, a couple of biscuits, and a linen napkin. While Elizabeth sips her tea, nibbles biscuits, and listens to BBC news on the radio, her staffer prepares a bath in the adjoining lavatory.
The queen reportedly prefers to bathe at 8 o’clock sharp, and her bath must be just so, royal correspondent, Brian Hoey, told the Daily Mail. To ensure an ideal bathing experience every morning, a royal staff member is employed to test the temperature — never too hot, never too cold — with a wooden encased thermometer, reports Marie Claire magazine.
Additionally, the depth of the water must never exceed seven inches, and yes, there is a royal staff member who attends to that, as well.
Queen Elizabeth’s breakfast
By 8:30, Queen Elizabeth is dressed, groomed, and ready to enjoy a light breakfast and the morning newspaper with her husband. Usually, she will tuck into a bowl of Special K, corn flakes, or Weetabix cereal with sliced fresh fruit and milk.
Queen Elizabeth takes her tea in fine china cups, but prefers to eat her morning cereal from a plastic Tupperware bowl, revealed the Independent.
When she wants to change things up a bit, Queen Elizabeth goes for toast slathered with Wilkin & Sons orange marmalade. Once in a while, the Queen opts for scrambled brown eggs (she thinks they taste better than white eggs) topped with a bit of smoked salmon and shaved truffles.
The queen is also serenaded with a bagpipe performance
At nine o’clock, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip are treated to a private 15-minute serenade performed by the official Piper to the Sovereign, Richard Grisdale. When not piping solo for the Queen, Grisdale performs with the Royal Regiment of Scotland.
After breakfast, Queen Elizabeth typically spends the remainder of her morning attending to paperwork at her Chippendale desk. She answers a selection of fan mail, writes in her journal, and deals with confidential correspondence sent via red ministerial dispatch boxes.
Queen Elizabeth’s routine hasn’t changed much since she ascended to the throne in 1952. She may be slowing down, but the Queen shows no signs of leaving her position. As her former equestrian manager, Sir Michael Oswald, told People magazine, “As long as she is able to carry out her duties she will continue.”
