Amazing details of the late Paul O’Grady’s relationship with Queen Elizabeth are revealed in a fascinating new book by his producer and friend Malcolm Prince
Paul O’Grady arrived at Lady Elizabeth Anson’s house for what he thought was a routine visit to see his long-standing friend who had been unwell. He carried a WH Smith bag, as he often did, and was led into the kitchen, where to his surprise, the Queen was already there, having a cup of tea.
Paul later admitted he was a little embarrassed by his disheveled appearance, but he did not let it show. But the encounter marked the beginning of an extraordinary secret friendship between Paul and the late Queen that today can be revealed for the first time.
“It was, I have since learnt, one of many such encounters Paul enjoyed with the Queen,” writes his friend and producer Malcolm Prince, in his new book, Paul O’Grady – Not The Same Without You.
“He kept his association relatively quiet, and rarely mentioned it on air or in public. If he did mention the royals, his viewers and listeners would not know if he was joking; after all, would you have believed him if he told you he had had tea with the Queen?”
On that occasion, Her Majesty thanked Paul for being such a loyal friend to her cousin, and for being a regular visitor to her during her illness. “Paul replied he had been friends with her for many years and his concern was the same he would show to anyone,” Malcolm writes.
Labour peer and actor Michael Cashman, who was close friends with Paul, says the late Queen loved how down to earth he was. “Paul was not impressed by wealth or privilege. He loved truth and he loved honesty, and I think that is why the Queen found him so interesting and why she engaged with him so often as she did,” he says.
Malcolm says he often believed Paul was joking when he name-dropped the royals while working alongside Paul for 14 years on his BBC Radio 2 show. “He used to say to me, ‘Well, they are listening’. I asked who and he used to mouth the words, ‘Royal family’. I was thinking, it is another one of his yarns. But he was telling the truth all along.”
In 2015, during the opening of dog kennels at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, Paul encouraged the Queen to adopt a corgi – though she declined. His royal friendships extended to Queen Camilla, who appeared on his popular show For the Love of Dogs.
“He would have regular lunches with Camilla at Fortnum and Mason. You could not help but think how far he had come,” Malcolm says of Paul, who was awarded an MBE in 2008. “I think even he was surprised but did not like to boast.”
While Paul enjoyed these private royal moments, his final years were marked by heartbreak closer to home, at BBC Radio 2. Malcolm and Paul worried for the future of their hugely popular show following a change in management. Their fears were realised in the summer of 2021 when Paul’s manager Joan Marshrons was informed by the BBC of their plans.
“Instead of a new two-year deal to continue the show, Paul was offered a one-year contract for just 26 programmes in two blocks of 13 each. He would normally present over 40 editions of TeamPOG a year. His manager Joan phoned me. We were flabbergasted. And when Joan broke the news to Paul, he too was shocked.
“He phoned me. ‘F*** ’em, Malcolm. We will just do the first thirteen and then we will bugger off.’ I had never known him be so angry – which was saying something.”
Malcolm also writes how Radio 2 made the situation worse with the way they mishandled the public messaging. “When the BBC’s press office prepared a draft release which announced the comedian Rob Beckett would be joining Radio 2 to “save Sundays”, Paul hit the roof: ‘“Save” Sundays?!? How dare they say that!’. I could not believe how disrespectful the messaging and optics were…
“Joan did inform the BBC that Paul was not happy, and he received an email apologising for the insensitive use of words. A rewritten press release was published.”
The impact was significant, leaving his friends furious.
Jayne Tunnicliffe recalls: “I could not believe it when I heard Paul was leaving Radio 2. Asking him to share the Sunday spot with Rob Beckett must have been such a slap in the face…The move by Radio 2 was unforgivable…
“And it turned into such a disastrous decision because had Paul been allowed to continue the show with Malcolm, he might have still been with us today.” Malcolm says they were supported by fellow Radio 2 star Steve Wright, whose own show was ended by BBC bosses. He describes how Steve was also left “broken” by the decision.
He writes: “Privately, the diktat to end the high-profile programme after 23 years broke Steve, and during our call he kept on saying, ‘I just don’t get it, Malcolm, we haven’t done anything wrong, have we?’. To hear Wrighty sound so despondent saddened me.
“He was a radio hero of mine. I reminded him his own programmes, and the way he approached and created them, had inspired me in the way I produced. He asked me to send his love to Paul and we bade farewell.” Malcolm says that the bad blood over the way the episode was handled continued until the day of Paul’s death, at the age of 67.
Visiting Paul hours before his death at his Kent home on March 28, 2023, he writes: “Paul asked if I had heard from the BBC. ‘No’, I replied. Publicly, he had not said anything negative about the station since we had left the previous August. But he still found the BBC’s decision bewildering, believing they did not understand who the real Radio 2 audience was.
“It was clear Paul had not forgiven the Corporation for the way he had been treated…I wonder how long Rob Beckett will last?’ he mused.” Rob left his Sunday afternoon slot in April this year.
Speaking to this paper, Malcolm says he was not surprised Paul was upset up until his death. Malcolm says: “He was bruised, but I think really he was embarrassed, because that had never happened to Paul before. He was upset. He was angry about it. His fans deserved to know what really happened. It was a really unhappy situation.”
