‘I had to line up Andrew’s bears in size order’ (Continued…)
Former Buckingham Palace maid, Charlotte Briggs, revealed the vast majority of the teddies were dressed as sailors, in uniforms and caps, and plucked from all corners of the globe.
The biggest were put at the back, with the rest in descending order of size to the smallest at the front.
But the Prince’s two favourite teddies were each given pride of place on two mahogany thrones at his bedside. Charlotte said: “The teddies had to be in a particular order on his four-poster bed, from the biggest at the back, down to the smallest at the front.
“All 72 of them. Each had to be carefully positioned. They were old-fashioned teddy bears — the Steiff ones — and nearly all of them had sailor suits on and hats.
“It took me half an hour to arrange them — most bizarre thing to be paid for.
“Then at bedtime I had to take all the teddies off and arrange them around the room.
“They each had a set place. We had to stack the smaller ones in an unused fireplace, again in size order, to make them look pretty.
“His two favourite bears sat on two thrones either side of the bed. The others would sit at the foot of the bed on the floor.”