Late Queen 'tore a strip off Prince William' after he 'terrified' staff at Balmoral

Late Queen 'tore a strip off Prince William' after he 'terrified' staff at Balmoral Sometimes it's easy to forget that, at heart, the Royal Family functions much like any other family - and it seems Queen Elizabeth II fully embraced her role as family matriarch Queen Elizabeth II was famously a stickler for royal protocol and tradition, always keen to keep up appearances. But it’s easy to forget that, at heart, the Royal Family functions much like any other. By all accounts, Her Late Majesty embraced her role as family matriarch—especially when it came to the younger royals. She adored her grandsons Prince William and Prince Harry, but she also wasn't afraid to give them a firm telling-off when the situation called for it. That’s according to Anne Glenconner, former lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret. She shares the anecdote in her upcoming book Trunks and Tiaras, due to hit the shelves on October 8. The incident took place in 1990, when the Royal Family visited Balmoral Castle for a weekend of shooting. One evening, Anne heard "raised voices" outside. Peering out of the window, she spotted the Queen "tearing a strip" off Prince William. According to Anne, William was on his pony on the drive. She quietly moved away from the window and went to inform Margaret of what she had witnessed. In an extract published by the Daily Mail, Anne wrote: "Later that evening, she said that apparently Prince William had been out riding with the groom and his cousins and had wheeled back from the group and returned to the castle on his own without letting anyone know. "The grooms had been frantic looking for him. You can imagine how terrified they were in case he had fallen and hit his head with no one knowing where he was. Princess Margaret said: 'The Queen was quite right to give him a rocket.'" The 1990 incident wasn’t the only time the late Queen was reported to have given Prince William a dressing-down. Hello! previously claimed she was left "not impressed" by his conduct at Trooping the Colour in 2016, when he was 33. Reporter Jack White explained: "As the family made an appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, William bent down to have a chat with little Prince George. "But Her Majesty was not impressed. Clearly aware of the fact that thousands of eyes were on them, she appeared to tell her grandchild to stand up. And William did not waste any time in following granny's orders." Prince Harry, standing directly him at the time, was "seemingly chuckling" at the tongue-wagging. Yet the Duke of Sussex was also "sure to correct" his own posture sharpish as his grandmother turned her gaze towards him. Prince William also recalled a separate incident in an interview with Sky News for the 2016 documentary The Queen at 90. He said that he and Peter Phillips—Princess Anne’s son—had been chasing his sister, Zara, as she drove a go-kart, and she ended up being steered straight into a lamppost. "And the lamppost came down and nearly squashed her, and I remember my grandmother being the first person out at Balmoral running across the lawn in her kilt." William added: "[She] came charging over and gave us the most almighty b******ing, and that sort of stuck in my mind from that moment on."