Watch: Maltese Butler Recalls Heartfelt Moment With Queen Elizabeth II When She Found Out Where He Was From
Joe Philippe Abela, a Maltese butler who used to work with the Royal Family, spoke on ONE TV’s Bil-Fatti about the late Queen Elizabeth II’s delighted reaction when she found out where he was from.
Abela, who used to work as a butler for the Queen’s cousin Lady Elizabeth Shakerley, said he once found himself in a room with the Queen and some 400 other people.
As the Queen was introduced to her audience members one by one, she had a notable reaction when the Maltese butler was introduced as “Joe Philippe from Malta.”
“There were 400 people present but at that point I felt I was alone in the the room with her,” he said. “I was going to bow but she shook my hand and started talking about Malta, about how much she enjoyed her time there, and about how much she loves the country.”
“Whenever she saw me afterwards she would ask me if I had been to Malta lately.”
The late Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip used to live in Malta between 1949 and 1951 and she had described her stay on the island as one of the best periods of her life, as it was the only time she was able to live normally.
Villa Gwardamangia, the Pietà home she used to live in, has been purchased by the government and is set to be resorted and converted into a museum. Heritage Malta recently announced that it haas acquired a €10.2 million EU grant for its restoration.
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