Prince Harry 'would hide from nannies in kitchen cupboards'

Prince Harry might be an heir to the throne and have grown up in a palace, but when he was younger he was just like any other child: playful.

The royal, now 35 and a father of one, would run around Kensington Palace as a boy and hide from his nannies inside kitchen cupboards, a former palace chef has revealed.

In an exclusive interview with Yahoo UK, as part of ‘The Royal Story’ video series, Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s chef Carolyn Robb speaks of the time she spent with both Prince William and Prince Harry when they were children.

READ MORE: Why Prince Charles’ former chef accompanied him to an NHS hospital

Robb worked for Charles and Diana until their separation, and then went on to work solely for Prince Charles.

Prince William accompanies Prince Harry on his first day at Wetherby School [Photo: Getty]
Prince William accompanies Prince Harry on his first day at Wetherby School [Photo: Getty]
Diana, Princess of Wales with her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry sitting at the piano in Kensington Palace [Photo: Getty]
Diana, Princess of Wales with her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry sitting at the piano in Kensington Palace [Photo: Getty]

Robb recalls she would “hear William and Harry running around upstairs” while working in the palace’s kitchen.

“Kensington Palace, the nursery, was on the floor above the kitchen. And being an old palace with wooden floorboards you could usually hear [William and Harry] running around upstairs,” Robb tells interviewer and royal expert Omid Scobie.

“You’d hear little footsteps tearing along the passageway above the kitchen and then he’d come flying down the stairs into the kitchen. Quite often, the nanny was in hot pursuit so it was ‘quick, quick, I need somewhere to hide.’

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“Fortunately we had some quite low cupboards where the breakfast cereals were kept that opened on both sides, so we could quickly take out the boxes of cornflakes and hide Harry.

“By the time the nanny arrived, he was no where to be seen - except usually his giggling would give him away.”

According to Robb, both William and Harry were engaging as children.

“They were always so interested in what you were doing,” she says, describing the pair as “warm and caring.”