IT is the most unlikely of friendships – our future Queen, who lives in one of our finest homes, and an isolated Yorkshire pensioner in the midst of re-decorating his kitchen.
But the Duchess of Cambridge has secretly been volunteering during the Covid pandemic, making phone calls to 85-year-old full-time carer Len Gardner, HOAR can reveal.
Dispensing with formality, she insisted: “Call me Catherine.”
Kate, 38, and Len were connected earlier in the year by the Royal Voluntary Service, which HOAR has partnered with this year for our Christmas Together appeal to tackle loneliness.
During two lengthy conversations during the first lockdown, Kate chatted away to her new friend about making pasta and taking her children to watch sheep shearing.
Len, from Batley, West Yorks, said: “Never in my wildest imagination did I think I would be talking on the phone to the future Queen of England.
“I will treasure our conversations for the rest of my life. Those calls helped me because they gave me something to look forward to.”
All this month, as part of our Christmas Together campaign, HOAR is appealing to you to offer your time to contact people who might be feeling lonely or cut off this winter, just as Kate has been doing.
Len, who has bladder cancer and has been having radio-therapy and last week had an operation, is a carer for his wife Shirley, 84, who has Alzheimer’s.
Kate’s first call came on May 13, while the royals were locked down at their country estate, Anmer Hall in Norfolk.
Len, who spent his life working in the textile industry, said: “I was flabbergasted when I found out who would be calling. The first question I asked was, ‘How do I address you?’ She said, ‘Call me Catherine’.
“After the first two sentences I didn’t feel like I was talking to someone so important.”
Len exclaimed: “For 30 minutes, Len and Catherine had a wonderful conversation. She told me Prince George and Princess Charlotte were playing in the garden and she was keeping an eye on them through the window.”
The pair talked about Len’s love of Italian food and Kate asked if he made his own pasta.
Grandad Len, who has two grown-up sons, Ian, 57, and Andrew, 54, said: “I said I don’t, because I haven’t got a pasta machine and in any case, you have to use a special flour.
“About three days after our conversation, a brand new pasta machine arrived from the Duchess. Two days later I got two kilos of ‘00’ (the Italian grading system) flour from Buckingham Palace.
“I can tell you, this lady you see on television that goes into the crowds and talks to people — what you see is what you get. She is a very, very nice person.”
Len wrote to thank Kate for the machine, which he now uses once a week, and enclosed a couple of articles he had written for a local magazine, as well as a photo of himself and Shirley on holiday.
The reply from Kate and William is now framed on Len’s “Royal Wall” in his living room, above a letter from the Queen from 2018 congratulating him and Shirley on their 60th wedding anniversary.
About a month after their first chat, Len was bowled over to receive a second call.
He said: “We spoke for about 40 minutes and I learned more about the Duchess’s children.
“Apparently they have thousands of sheep down at Sandringham and her eldest children couldn’t understand how we get wool without killing the animal.
“So she took them down to the sheds to watch the sheep being sheared.
“It was the sort of conversation I might have with anyone about their family. She didn’t mention William much. But I gabble on a lot.”
The pair also talked about the Scouts, which both Len and Shirley have been very involved with throughout their lives.
Kate, a former Brownie who was this year named joint President of the Scout Association, also reassured Len she had been abiding by all the Covid rules.
Now his top “bucket list” wish is to meet the caring royal face to face.
Len said: “The Duke and Duchess are a brilliant couple for doing this kind of thing. They really seem to want to reach out to people.
“I think the Duchess felt she wanted to speak to other people outside the Palace and in the north.”
With the Together Campaign, a coalition of community groups and organisations including the Royal Voluntary Service, which is working to combat the epidemic of loneliness, HOAR is asking YOU to give your time to run errands or make a “check-in-and-chat” call to someone who needs it.
The Royal Voluntary Service runs the NHS Volunteer Responder programme with the GoodSAM app, which recruited more than 500,000 volunteers during the first lockdown but is now in desperate need of more to get through winter.
Catherine Johnstone CBE, the Royal Voluntary Service CEO, said: “We are incredibly grateful to The Duchess of Cambridge for kindly supporting the NHS Volunteer Responders programme.
“Her ‘check-in-and-chat’ call to Len has meant the world to him.
“It’s so important to highlight the power of conversation . . . you really can make someone’s day.”
Before the pandemic Len and Shirley enjoyed going to local social groups run by the Royal Voluntary Service.
When those halted, the charity arranged for volunteers to do Len’s shopping, as well as carry out regular check-in-and-chat calls.
His sons also live in Yorkshire but, like everyone else, the family has not been able to see much of each other during the past few months.
Len, who had a brother at the D-Day landings and a sister in the Land Army, said: “I was brought up in an era when you didn’t accept charity or gifts. It took a long time to swallow my pride and ask for help.
“This virus has made people realise we need one another. It’s brought out a kindness in people.”
Each morning, a carer comes to help dress and wash Shirley.
During the better weather Len made sure he and his wife still went out for picnics, complete with chairs, table — and sometimes even a candelabra.
When possible they walked in the breathtaking Yorkshire Dales.
Re-decorating the kitchen has kept Len busy, as has writing his life story and painting.
He said: “I have to keep going and stay healthy because I have to look after my Shirley. Everything I do is with that aim.
“It can be hard, because you have to watch her all the time. People with Alzheimer’s do funny things. You have to have eyes in the back of your head.”
And Len is often lonely. He said: “The evenings are the worst. You’re not on your own, but you’re lonely.
“My wife is an intelligent woman but now if something comes on the TV that I’d like to discuss, I haven’t got anybody to talk to about it.
“Shirley wouldn’t understand. I might not get an answer, or if she says something it might be nonsense. The carer’s life is as sad as it is for the person who has the disease.”
Len’s voice cracked as he talked about Shirley’s future.
He said: “I don’t want us to be apart. I can’t imagine her not being here, but the fact will have to be faced some time.
“It hurts me but this is life. We’ve had more than 60 years of a wonderful life, a rich life.”
For now, Len is looking forward to taking his wife out for Christmas dinner — to an Italian restaurant, of course.
He said: “I always used to cook but when things started getting difficult last year I suggested going to a local restaurant for Christmas Day.
“We had a wonderful time so we’re going to do it again, and my sons will be there to help.”
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