Susannah Constantine on 'flashing' Prince Philip in Windsor Castle

Susannah Constantine has revealed how chivalrous Prince Philip helped her to 'recover her modesty' after she suffered a wardrobe malfunction at Windsor Castle.

Appearing on the Dirty Mother Pukka podcast, the TV personality, 62, opened up about a royal dinner party she attended in the 1980s. 

At the time, the mother-of-three - who has been married to entrepreneur Sten Bertelsen for 30 years - was dating Princess Margaret's son David Linley.

For the event, Susannah was sat between the late Prince Philip and his youngest son Prince Edward.

The star then went on to explain how she borrowed a 'beautiful Valentino dress' from her mother, which had thin diamante straps.  

During the starter, Susannah recalled how Prince Philip placed his hand on her back.

The former What Not to Wear host said: 'I was just sort of, you know, eating my soup and everything, and suddenly Prince Phillip put his hand on my back, and I thought, "Oi oi! What’s going on here?"

'And then he went round to my front, and I thought he was going for one of my boobs!'

However, it then dawned on Susannah that the Duke of Edinburgh was actually trying to pull her dress up - after it had come undone at the table.

The star continued: 'He lifted my dress up to recover my modesty!

'And because my boobs were open to the public, I was flashing to the whole room!'

The late royal then flagged down a footman to find some safety pins to secure the dress.

Susannah added: 'Then Princess Margaret came round and saved the day and did them up round the back.'

Susannah previously told Loose Women that Princess Margaret whisked her away to the bathroom to pin the dress up and added: 'We were laughing so much.' 

Susannah dated David Linley for six years from 1983 and previously said there was a 'deep sense of loyalty' between her and Princess Margaret - even after she split from her son.

Writing for the Daily Mail in September 2022, Susannah explained: 'In 1994, five years after I’d split from her son, she suddenly popped back up on my radar. 

'Somehow or other she’d learned of my upcoming nuptials and wanted to host an engagement dinner for my fiance, Sten, and I at the ultra-discreet Blakes Hotel in South Kensington. 

'She knew she’d need to hold the dinner somewhere private because the Press would have had a field day had they found the princess serenading her son’s ex and her new beau.' 

Read More

Margaret Thatcher 'booted Queen out of the way' to make tea for herself at Balmoral, David Linley's ex-girlfriend Susannah Constantine claims

However, the star said her ex-boyfriend's mother had been 'mischievous' during the meal and delighted in telling her new partner 'how in love David and [Susannah] had been'. 

In her memoir Ready for Absolutely Nothing, Susannah opened up about her late mother's battle with bipolar disorder and described Princess Margaret as a 'surrogate mother. 

She wrote: 'Thank God David and I didn’t get married. I don’t think my poor parents could have withstood the pressure.

'Even now, I am greatly moved by Princess Margaret’s emotional generosity towards me. I did not know how much I needed a woman like her in my life at the time, but she did.' 

Susannah told The Times in 2022 that she regrets falling out of contact with Princess Margaret but didn't feel it was 'appropriate' after David got engaged to his ex-wife Serena. 

'She was in my life at a time when my mum was seriously unravelling,' Susannah said. '[She was] a mother figure, and you still need that, even in your early twenties.'