A Chauffeur to Royalty

I am putting feelers out to see if anyone might be interested in tales of my years as a chauffeur, firstly with the Royal Household in London and with the Home Office working on State Visits and later, with Rolls Royce Hire, driving a variety of celebrities.

Celebrities such as Barbra Streisand, Jayne Mansfield, Sir Lawrence Olivier, Cilla Black, Frank Sinatra, Richard Harris and many others, some with interesting stories.

I’ll start with my time driving Barbra Streisand.

Barbra, bless her, is 78 now. She was only 24 when I knew her. She was performing in ‘Funny Girl’ at the Prince of Wales theatre. I was her assigned chauffeur during her time in the UK in 1966. She was actually pregnant at the time. She stayed in a town house flat in Ennismore Gardens. I would pick her up each day to and from the theatre. She used to ask me how she looked. I always replied ‘Great’. Then she’d stick her tummy out and say ‘Liar’. The show was cut short because of her pregnancy and her last performance was in July ‘66. There was a massive party held  for her at The Cockney Pride in Piccadilly, attended by Leslie Caron, Anthony Newly and Joan Collins among others. Barbra gave birth in December that year to her son Jason Gould. I last saw Barbra in 2007 when she came over to perform at the O2 Arena. Fans were paying upward of £500 to get to see her. Her agent sent me two complimentary tickets. What a trooper, she never forgets.

My next tale will about Jayne Mansfield’s trip to the Uk. A somewhat sad story.