The Queen Apparently Only Answers the Phone for Two People

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 12 March 2022

When you’re Queen Elizabeth, there are always staff members on hand to answer the phone at Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, or wherever she might be.

But, according to royal commentator Jonathan Sacerdoti, Her Majesty herself only answers the phone for two people when they call, and they might not be who you think.

For starters, eldest son and heir to the throne Prince Charles apparently doesn’t make the cut. It’s only daughter Princess Anne and her racing manager John Warren that the Queen will answer the phone for, Sacerdoti told fellow royal commentator Christina Garibaldi, via the Mirror. He also revealed that her personal smartphone is a Samsung model, outfitted with anti-hacker encryption by MI6.

“Apparently the Queen has two people who she speaks to the most on her phones,” Sacerdoti said. “She also apparently has a mobile phone which is said to be Samsung packed with anti-hacker encryption by MI6 so nobody can hack into her phone. But the two people she phones the most are said to be her daughter Princess Anne and her racing manager John Warren.”

In particular, if Warren calls, “she answers,” Sacerdoti said. “He is the son-in-law of the Queen’s friend, the late Earl of Carnarvon, and his home was Highclere Castle in Berkshire, which viewers of TV may know better as Downton Abbey.”

Warren is considered one of the world’s leading horsemen and oversees all of the Queen’s racing and breeding interests, the Mirror reports. Horseracing connects Her Majesty with Warren; the connection between mother and daughter is obvious. As for the Queen’s three sons Prince Charles, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward? Well, thank goodness for landlines.

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.