Tea with Princess Elizabeth: fond memories from the butler’s daughter

The late Queen Elizabeth II once said she could live a relatively “normal” life at Villa Guardamangia, but for Marlene Calleja, the daughter of the villa’s butler, life there offered a front-row seat into the daily lives of royalty.

“It gave me the chance to see royal people, talk with them and have tea with the princess. Not the prince, though. I don’t remember talking to him all that much. She used to guard him,” Marlene joked, looking back on those exciting years.

In an interview with Times of Malta, 91-year-old Marlene recalled sipping tea with a young Princess Elizabeth, an unexpected invitation to Clarence House and the life of her father, Giuseppe (Joe) Micallef, who was very well respected for his service, until his passing on June 28, 1988, at the age of 81.

Giuseppe Micallef (middle) opening the car door for Princess Margaret (left) with Princess Elizabeth (right) standing next to him.

The family’s interactions with royalty date to the 1930s when Micallef joined the navy as a petty officer and formed part of the HMS Kelly’s crew. Here, Micallef met with the ship captain, Lord Louis Mountbatten.

“My father joined the Kelly at its inception, until it went down on May 23, 1941, at 7.55am. He was the only Maltese survivor. The other Maltese person, Domenico Camenzuli, did not make it. My father saw him going down.”

Presumed dead

Giuseppe was severely burned on the left side of his body and, while swimming, he was shot at and struck 13 times in the left arm. Knocking on death’s door, her father was picked up by a hospital ship called the HMS Maine at 11am and was taken to a hospital in Alexandria, Egypt, where he stayed for two years, she said.

Back in Malta, Marlene recalled how an officer knocked on their door in Marsa and delivered a telegram message, which said her father was “missing, presumed dead”.

“For 17 days, we thought we were orphaned and my mother was widowed. But, then, another telegram came in with the message from my father saying, ‘I am getting better’, which was sent by Lord Louis Mountbatten.”

After spending two years recovering in Alexandria, he returned to Malta with “two crutches completely bent over”, she said. “I didn’t recognise him. I remember thinking, ‘This is not my dad’.”

Prince Charles and Princess Anne with Lord Louis Mountbatten and Lady Edwina Mountbatten.

Giuseppe forged a close relationship with Mountbatten while serving on HMS Kelly, a bond that later secured him employment at Villa Guardamangia. Mountbatten, who moved into the villa in 1948, later recommended Micallef as butler to Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip when they took up residence in 1949.

“They were very humble people,” Marlene said about the prince and princess.

“My father developed a limp after the Kelly incident and, on one occasion, he was going up the flight of stairs while carrying a tray with something for the prince. Prince Philip spotted him, and he ran downstairs, took the tray and took it up himself to save my father from going up.”

Marlene spent a lot of time at the villa between the ages of 15 and 17. She often visited after school to study or do her homework.

“What used to surprise me were the luxury bathrooms. The princess’s bathroom was yellow, and the prince’s was green. Also, the central heating and the fridges – these were non-existent in Malta.”

The first Christmas card sent by Buckingham Palace to Giuseppe Micallef.

“Oh, and I have lovely memories of the garden. I remember watching Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret in the garden and Lady Edwina Mountbatten sunbathing.”

It was at the villa that Marlene met Princess Elizabeth for the first time.

“There used to be a room next to the kitchen where I used to do my homework. And, on one Saturday afternoon, I remember the princess coming down asking me how I’m getting on at school. Then, she asked one of the maids to bring a cup of tea, and we had a cup of tea together.”

Over time, Marlene and the princess had more interactions similar to this, and the princess grew fonder of Marlene until the princess made a proposal to her.

“She saw that I was interested in my schoolwork and, one day, she asked me: ‘How would you like to be one of the WRNS (Women’s Royal Naval Service)?’ For me, it was something very nice to have the opportunity to go abroad and join the Navy. But my mother wouldn’t dream of having a 15-year-old join.”

Had she been older, she says she would have probably taken up the offer. Instead, she went to university.

Royal residence

In 1951, Princess Elizabeth headed back to England as her father, King George VI, had fallen ill.

Months before the princess became queen, Marlene was in London on holiday. While she was there, her father wrote to the princess informing her about Marlene. The next thing Marlene knows, she receives an invitation from the princess to have tea at the royal residence of Clarence House.

The letter of condolences sent by Buckingham Palace.

“What struck me was that, when I entered the house, on the right-hand side of the hallway, there was a bronze statue of Les Gavroches, which is displayed at the Upper Barrakka Gardens.”

Antonio Sciortino’s statue of the three ragged street children stood in the gardens for much of the 20th century before being replaced by a replica.

“Miss [Margaret] MacDonald [a lady-in-waiting] told me the queen really treasures it.”

The three women sat down for tea and had a little catch-up about their lives and how life at the villa was.

“Whenever she had a chance, she always told people how happy she was at the villa.”

This was the last time that Marlene met Princess Elizabeth… however, she did get a chance to meet Queen Elizabeth two years later.

Jump to May 4, 1954, the queen was in Malta as part of her coronation tour, and she was invited to inaugurate the Mater Admirabilis Training College (MATC) at Tal-Virtù. Marlene was a student there.

As a familiar face, Marlene was chosen to read the queen’s welcome address.

“In this photo, you can see me talking to her after giving my address. She was asking me about school. She was staying at the governor’s palace in San Anton. In the evening, my father and I went over to the palace and she was given a very nicely bound copy of the address.”

Never forgotten

The royal couple never lost touch with Marlene’s father. They would send him yearly Christmas cards from Buckingham Palace.

He and his wife were even invited for a service at Westminster Abbey to mark the 25th wedding anniversary of the royal couple in 1972.

One man Giuseppe never lost touch with was Mountbatten. And when Mountbatten was assassinated on August 27, 1979, by the Irish Republican Army, Giuseppe attended his funeral in London.

A letter of recommendation written by Lord Louis Mountbatten addressed to Giuseppe Micallef.

“I remember my father saying, ‘A chapter in my life has closed’. Mountbatten was very much at heart to him as he was with him from the inception of the Kelly.”

Shortly after her father’s death in 1988, Denis Micallef, Marlene’s brother, received a letter from Buckingham Palace signed by the queen’s private secretary, Robert Fellowes, on July 7, 1988.

It reads: “The Queen asked me to write to you to express to you and your family the heartfelt sympathy of herself and The Duke of Edinburgh at this very sad time. The Queen has the happiest memories of your father’s loyal, efficient and devoted service in Malta, and of his friendliness in keeping in touch ever since those days.”