The day I danced with the Duke of Edinburgh

I started working for the royal family in a temporary role at Balmoral Castle, Her Majesty the Queen’s residence in the Highlands, in 2006. I spotted an advert on my university careers website and thought it might be a good summer stop-gap job until I found something more permanent. I must have made a good impression as, three months later, I found myself one of a few staff members returning to London on the royal flight with HM and her troop of corgis. Buckingham Palace was then my ‘home’ for the next four years.

I remember my first morning there — the changing of the guard was taking place in the forecourt, and they were playing a Beatles medley, the 1960s sounds reverberating up to my tiny bedroom at the top of the palace. It was a novelty to start with, having this live band outside my window every other day (every day in the summer).