Paul Whybrew

Paul Whybrew CVO RVM
Born	1959 (age 64–65) Braintree, Essex, England, UK

Paul Kevin Whybrew, CVO, RVM (born 1959) is a British former member of staff to the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. He served as Page of the Backstairs to Queen Elizabeth II until her death on 8 September 2022.

Role

His role as personal page to the Queen required that he catered to a significant proportion of her daily needs. He was given accommodation by the Queen at Windsor Castle, Balmoral Castle and Sandringham House.

Whybrew was one of a number of long-time, loyal staff who kept the Queen company in her final days at Balmoral.^[1]

He took part in the Royal Procession at the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla as Serjeant-at-Arms.^[2]

Incident

In 1982, Whybrew spoke to Michael Fagan.^[3] Fagan had evaded security and broken into the royal bedroom at Buckingham Palace.

Honours

In addition to his honours, Whybrew was appointed Serjeant-at-Arms to the Queen in 2008. The role was first established in the 12th century.^[3]

Having already been appointed Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO), Whybrew was appointed Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO) during the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Honours. Already a holder of the Royal Victorian Medal (RVM) in Silver, he was awarded the Royal Victorian Medal in Gold in the 2016 Birthday Honours.^[4] He has received the Queen Elizabeth II Version of the Royal Household Long and Faithful Service Medal for service to the Royal Family. In the 2023 Demise Honours List he was promoted to Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.

Ribbon	Description	Notes
	Royal Victorian Order (CVO)	Commander 2023 Demise Honours List Previously appointed as a member (MVO) Previously appointed as a lieutenant (LVO)
	Royal Victorian Medal (RVM) Gold	2016 Queen's Birthday Honours List
	Royal Victorian Medal (RVM) Silver	1993 Queen's Birthday Honours List
	Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal	1977 UK Version of this Medal
	Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal	2002 UK Version of this Medal
	Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal	2012 UK Version of this Medal
	Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal	2022 UK Version of this Medal
	King Charles III Coronation Medal	2023 UK Version of this Medal
	Royal Household Long and Faithful Service Medal	Queen Elizabeth II Version 1998 With 2 Clasps (40 years of service) ^[5]

Personal life

Whybrew, known as "Tall Paul", was born at Braintree, Essex, in 1959 and is 192 cm (6 ft 4 in) tall. He attended Clacton County High School. He was also known as "Tall Paul" in contrast to another of the Queen's footmen, Paul Burrell, who was known as "Small Paul".

Whybrew appeared in the Buckingham Palace scenes of the short comedic film Happy and Glorious, featured in the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics, in which the Queen is seen jumping out of a helicopter with James Bond (Daniel Craig).^[6]^[7]

References

^ "How the Queen spent her final weeks at her 'happy place', Balmoral". MSN.
^ "Coronation order of service in full". BBC News. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
^ ^a ^b Leyland, Joanne. "The Queen Honours 'Big Paul'". The Royalist. Archived from the original on 23 May 2008.
^ "No. 61608". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2016. p. B5.
^ "Photoraph of Paul Whybrew Wearing His Medals". Getty Images. 19 September 2022. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
^ "On Her Majesty's Olympic Service".
^ "How Queen Elizabeth II Ensured Famous James Bond Scene Was Authentic". Newsweek. 8 March 2022.