A WOMAN who worked as an aide of the late Queen Elizabeth II for almost two decades has revealed the driving habit that left passengers ”white-knuckled”.
Samantha Cohen – nicknamed ‘Samantha the Panther’ for her feisty attitude – used to be one of the Queen‘s most trusted aides before moving to work for Meghan and Harry.
The 56-year-old Australian joined the press office around 25 years ago, before being promoted to the royal’s communications secretary, and then landing a position as her assistant private secretary.
However, this wasn’t the first time Samantha saw the monarch in real life – she revealed she first saw the Queen during the head of state visit to Australia in 1977.
Samantha, who was a schoolgirl in Brisbane at the time, recalls being ”beyond excited” about the Silver Jubilee year and celebrations.
During her time working for the monarch, Samantha would earn the reputation as ”one of [her] most trusted aides and closest confidantes”.
Throughout the 18 years, Samantha saw the Queen almost every day and also did three Australian tours with her, in 2002, 2006 and 2011.
Reminiscing about her time working as an aide, the 56-year-old said their relationship was ”very professional” and that the monarch didn’t have any favourites.
Together with her family, hubby Richard Halle and their children (who are now 13, 16 and 19-years-old), Samantha would often relocate to wherever the Queen was – which included spending summers in Balmoral and Christmas in Norfolk at Sandringham, where they were given a cottage during their stay, and gifts complete with handwritten tags from the monarch.
Chatting with The Sunday Times, the former aide described the late royal as a ”shy” person who wanted to be ”a family woman” as well as the head of state.
Samantha – who then went onto training Meghan in royal etiquette -said she loved the privacy she enjoyed at Balmoral, as well as hosting everyone.
The late monarch was known for her love of cars, which included Land Rovers and Range Rovers, to name a few – and according to Samantha, she was ”gutsy” when it came to driving.
The mother-of-three explained that the Queen would ”drive her cars fast around Balmoral”.
Her passengers would reportedly be left ”white-knuckled”.
Another remarkable trait of the late Queen, Samantha noted, was that she had ”no ego”, and that despite being one of the most famous people in the world, she was ”the antithesis of celebrity”.
While she saw the royal at her happiest when she was off-duty, according to Samantha, she also enjoyed the Australian tours, finding them rather relaxing ”because there was less protocol”.
Reports suggest that while on a trip to London in 2001, Samantha rather fortuitously came across a job ad for a media minder at the Buckingham Palace press office.
She applied and landed the role, and has worked for the royal family ever since.
She quickly rose to the private office at the palace, and was the Assistant Private Secretary to The Queen from 2011 until 2018.
After Australians voted to keep Elizabeth as the head of state in 1999 (a narrow victory), the Queen gave a speech in which she spoke of how the decision was up to the citizens.
”I have always made it clear that the future of the monarchy in Australia is an issue for you, the Australian people, and you alone to decide by democratic and constitutional means.
”It should not be otherwise,” she said.
In May 2018, shortly after Prince Harry wed Meghan Markle, the Queen asked Samantha to work for the couple.
However, that didn’t last long, as she left the Royal Family in October 2019, after almost 20 years of working for the institution.
