Queen ‘marked bowls to stop police swiping snacks’

The Queen was so upset about palace police getting their ‘sticky fingers’ into the royal nuts she started marking the bowls, a court heard.Her officials sent a memo to royal protection officers to tell them she was ‘narked’ about the disappearing cashews, almonds and Bombay mix, the phone hacking trial was told.The vignette was revealed in an email from former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman to his then-editor, Andy Coulson.He told him the Queen was becoming upset about the snacks, which were left out for guests at the wedding of Charles and Camilla in 2005. He wrote: ‘Problem is that police on patrol eat the lot… memo now gone around to all palace cops telling them to keep their sticky fingers out. Queen is so narked she started marking the bowls to see when the levels dipped.’Goodman, who was jailed in 2007 for phone hacking, also wrote of the Queen: ‘She has a very savoury tooth and staff leave out cashews, Bombay mix, almonds, etc.’The evidence provoked laughter among jurors and in the public gallery, prompting judge Mr Justice Saunders to remind the court: ‘These are unproven allegations.’In a separate message in March 2005, Goodman allegedly asked for payment from Coulson for two royal phone books from ‘one of our palace police.’ He said: ‘They are enormously useful, we usually pay £1,000 each for them.’Coulson and Goodman are accused of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office and are among eight people on trial. All defendants deny all charges and the case continues.(metro.co.uk)ANN.Az