The New Normal

I am well known among my friends for being a bit weird about curtains

Gaps in curtains bother me, perhaps too much for a normal person, but I maintain it is too important to ignore, writes Christine Manby

Sunday 06 February 2022 09:09 GMT
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<p>My sister and I were drilled in the importance curtain etiquette from an early age</p>

My sister and I were drilled in the importance curtain etiquette from an early age

It’s not every day that you find out you have something in common with Prince Andrew. And lately, let’s face it, who would want to? But then I read the revelations of former Buckingham Palace servant, Charlotte Briggs, who told The Sun how she had been subjected to foul-mouthed outbursts by the Duke Of York for transgressions as minor as messing with his teddy bears, not properly aligning the crested pillows on his bed and leaving a tiny gap at the top of the curtains.

Hang on. What? She left a gap at the top of the curtains? Well, no wonder he made her change into her evening uniform, run up four flights of stairs and sort the bloody mess out. Even if he was sitting right there beside the crooked drapes at the time.

Of course I don’t approve of bullying (or of being a lazy arse, for that matter) but that gap in the curtains, it bothered me, just as it had obviously bothered the prince. Was that a flicker of empathy I felt for the man Briggs described as “demanding and entitled”? Briggs’ further assertion that the incident was “utterly ridiculous” left me feeling strangely judged. I am well known amongst my nearest and dearest for being a bit weird about curtains.

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