The late Queen refused to open an airport terminal after her relative wasn’t allowed to bring his shotguns on board a plane to the Scottish Highlands, he has claimed.
Lord Ivar Mountbatten, Queen Elizabeth II’s third cousin once removed, was on his way to Balmoral for a shooting weekend when he was told he couldn’t bring his firearms on the aircraft.
After arriving at the royal residence, the 62-year-old told the monarch about the incident at Bristol Airport and how he tried to negotiate with the ‘sweet check-in lady’ and her ‘pig-headed’ manager without any success.
He claimed the late Queen was irritated by the incident and said she had been asked to open their new terminal before telling him “I don’t think I will now”.
The late Queen refused to open an airport terminal after her relative wasn’t allowed to bring his shotguns on board a plane at the airport, he has claimed
Lord Ivar Mountbatten, Queen Elizabeth II’s third cousin once removed, was on his way to Balmoral for a shooting weekend when he was told he couldn’t bring his firearms on the plane
The 62-year-old told the then monarch about the incident at Bristol Airport and how he tried to negotiate with the ‘sweet check-in lady’ and her ‘pig-headed’ manager
Lord Ivar arrived at Bristol Airport with his guns ready to travel to Balmoral for a shooting weekend.
‘We go and check in, and the sweet check-in lady sort of says, “Oh, you’re going to Aberdeen”,’ he told the Rosebud podcast.
‘She sort of looks and says, “Oh dear, I’m terribly sorry. You won’t be able to take the guns on this flight”.
‘I said, “Well, why is that?”. And she said, “Well, unfortunately, the hold is accessible from the cabin and therefore, they won’t be secure”.’
Lord Ivar grew frustrated and asked to speak with the pilot as he insisted it was up to their discretion.
He suggested that they take apart the guns, take the barrels into the hold and carry the stock into the cockpit.
The assistant then raised this with her manager who came out and was being ‘a bit pig-headed’, according to him.
Lord Ivar added: ‘She said, “No, we can’t do that. You’ll have to leave them in the car”.’
But he refused because that is ‘highly illegal’.
He claims the manager questioned why he never made a reservation for his guns.
‘I’ve never made reservations for my guns. I’ve always just turned up. It’s never been a problem,’ he insisted.
‘She said, “Well, not from Bristol you haven’t, maybe from Heathrow. You’ll just have to fly from Heathrow”.’
Lord Ivar then decided to use his connection with the Queen to resolve the issue.
‘Well, I’m terribly sorry. I’m going to Balmoral for the weekend,’ he told her.
‘I can’t fly from Heathrow. The Queen’s sending me a car and she’s expecting me for tea.’
Lord Ivar said this ‘focused her mind a bit’ but added that she was still refusing to let him speak with the pilot.
The manager came up with a solution to leave the guns in the police armory at Bristol Airport and he boarded his flight.
He arrived at Balmoral and immediately went in to have tea with Queen Elizabeth.
‘I’m sitting on the right hand side of the Queen and I’m kind of irritated by this story so I repeat it to Her Majesty,’ he said.
‘I could see that she was getting rather irritated as well. She turns to her equerry.
‘She said, “Simon, I would like Lord Ivar’s guns to be up here tomorrow morning. Please see to it”.
‘Whereupon she turns back to me and looks at me over her glasses with a glint in her eye and she says “They want me to open their new terminal. I don’t think I will now”.
A terminal was later opened by the Princess Royal and Lord Ivar laughs every time he goes back to Bristol Airport.
It is not known exactly when the incident took place.
A Bristol Airport spokesman said: ‘Bristol Airport followed royal protocol which was to request a member of the royal family to open the new terminal through the Lord Lieutenants office.
‘The Princess Royal was always assigned for our area, never the late Queen. The Princess Royal has been involved in three official openings at Bristol Airport.’
