Off The Record
Man Who Shielded Royal Family Through Darkest Hour Dies At 77
On the day Princes William and Harry learned of their mother’s terrible car accident, the royal bodyguard who was with them passed away.
Nicknamed ‘Crackers’ by the two Princes, Graham Craker, 77, had served 35 years as a Metropolitan Police officer.
Before retiring in 2001, he had been the lads’ personal protection officer for 15 years.
Craker was with the couple in Balmoral, Scotland, on the day of Diana’s passing. They were accompanied by their grandparents, Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh, as well as their father, Prince Charles, who was then Prince Charles.
Speaking to the New York Post in 2017, Craker described hearing the news: “Perhaps the most emotional was seeing William the morning after.”
I saw William walking his dog outside, and I walked up to him and said, “I’m very, very sorry to hear your bad news.” William very sadly said, “Thank you.”’
Craker went behind William and Harry on the day of the funeral as the hearse carrying their mother’s remains traveled from St. James’s Palace to Westminster Abbey.
He said: “I was standing at the rear of the hearse and William looked up and acknowledged me. I looked toward him and nodded. William was comforted that I was with his mum on her final journey.”
“There were people in tears, on their knees crossing themselves, throwing flowers at the hearse.”
“The bit that amazed me is when we got on the northbound M1, even the southbound traffic had stopped and people got out of their cars and bowed in respect.”
Even in their own correspondence, the Princes’ affection for Craker was clear in their descriptions of their protection officer.
In his memoir Spare, Harry wrote: “The driver had to keep pulling over so the bodyguard could get out and clear the flowers off the windscreen.”
“The bodyguard was Graham. Willy and I liked him a lot. We always called him Crackers. We thought that was hysterical.”
The fact that Craker attended Prince William and Kate Middleton’s 2011 wedding, ten years after he had resigned from his position as a royal bodyguard, further demonstrated the depth of the Princes’ relationship with him.
The late Queen Elizabeth II made Craker a Freeman of the City of London and a Member of the Royal Victorian Order for his contributions to the Royal Family.
He then worked with Ware charities, notably as a trustee for Always Bee You, a Hertfordshire-based organization that helps persons with mental health and developmental difficulties.
Additionally, he helped at Southern Maltings Creative Centre, which lovingly called him “our very own James Bond” in a Facebook tribute post on Thursday.
“It is with much sadness that we must share that our friend and colleague, Graham Craker, has sadly died,” they wrote.
“Graham has been on our journey almost from the very beginning and has been behind our bar for the whole of that time, making sure everyone has the best of times.”
“While to the most important people in his life Graham was a father, and grandfather, to us he was a valued friend and colleague.”
“He was the only volunteer to have a set of keys to the building, such is the measure of how trusted and respected he was, and it was not unusual to find him around, even when there was no event, because he wanted to make sure the bar was clean, stocked and ready for everyone else.”
But more than anything, he will be remembered by those of us who worked events for his warmth, his laugh, and his unwavering desire to help others.
“Many people will miss our very own James Bond, who served as a police officer, a member of the protection squad, a major motivator in the rotary, and ultimately a vital volunteer at the Southern Maltings.”
We send our condolences to his family and all those who knew him. Crackers, rest in peace. We’ll make sure.
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