(posted 7950 days ago)Evening Standard
Modest change for backstairs Billy
by Wayne VeyseyAfter more than half a century of service to the Royal Family, he is more used to carrying the finest silver and china, but these days William " Backstairs Billy" Tallon has to fetch and carry his own laundry.
His former job as page to the Queen Mother is now a distant memory.
Bachelor Mr Tallon, 66, a well known figure as Page of the Backstairs, had to leave Gate Lodge at Clarence House, the grace and favour apartment granted to him by the Queen Mother, after Prince Charles said no alternative post could be found for him.
Mr Tallon, who worked for the Queen Mother since leaving school at 16, has moved to Kennington, where he has a tiny flat left to him by his long-term companion Reginald Wilcock, a Clarence House footman who died last year. The flat belongs to Prince Charles's Duchy of Cornwall and Mr Tallon has been told he can stay there rent free for the rest of his life.
The Royal Household has reportedly had strained relations with Mr Tallon since the Queen Mother's 101st birthday when, it was claimed by Palace officials, he took it upon himself to include wheelchair-bound Princess Margaret in the royal line-up
© Associated Newspapers Ltd., 17 July 2002