Later that afternoon, the dining room of Buckingham Palace was host to the greatest Christmas party ever held. King George VI, his wife, Queen Elizabeth, and their young daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, were hosting not just the prime minister, Winston Churchill, but some wonderful new friends too.

Sitting around the impossibly long dining table in a room glistening with Christmas decorations were, of course, Eric and Sid. The old man was sporting his First World War army uniform. On his jacket, King George had just pinned the George Cross‚ the medal that is one of the highest honours in Britain. From the blue ribbon dangled a silver cross. The cross depicted St George and the dragon, and two words, “FOR GALLANTRY”. Sid was beaming with pride as Bessie fed him slices of Victoria sponge cake.

“My hero!” she sighed.

However, what made this royal tea party so special were the animals. There were creatures of all shapes and sizes, which delighted the young princesses no end. They giggled together with Eric as:

Parker the one-winged parrot pecked at a Christmas pudding.

SQUAWK!

Ernie the elephant had his stumpy trunk stuck in a blancmange.

WHOOMPH!

Sassy the blind seal munched on some salmon sandwiches.

MUNCH!

Totter the tortoise looked as if he were taking part in a competition to eat his yule log the slowest.

YUM!

Florence the one-legged flamingo nibbled at a Christmas cake.

PECK! PECK! PECK!

Colin the crocodile slurped up some nice soft jelly without his lack of teeth stopping him.

“SLURP!”

Botty the one-armed and big-bottomed baboon bounced up and down on her ginormous bottom, having just discovered the joys of mince pies.

BOING! BOING! BOING!

MUNCH! MUNCH! MUNCH!

However, the star of the show, as always, was Gertrude. The gorilla had a huge banana split all to herself. It was made of bananas, cherries, marshmallows, nuts and, of course, ice cream. She was making her way through it at an astonishing rate, spraying bits of banana all over the royal family as she ate.

CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP!

SPLURT! SPLURT! SPLURT!

“HOO!”

“Papa!” pleaded the eldest daughter, Elizabeth, who was fourteen. “Please can we have our very own gorilla for Christmas?”

“N-n-no, d-d-darling!” stammered the King, plucking pieces of banana out of his hair.

“Not fair!” snapped the ten-year-old Margaret, banging her spoon hard on the table.

CLANG!

“Watch your manners, dear!” reminded the Queen.

But with a palace full of animals, manners were not on display today.

Princess Elizabeth turned to Eric. “How do you do?” she asked stiffly.

“How do I do what?” he asked.

This made her smile. “I mean, how are you?”

“Oh sorry. I am well, thank you, Your Royal Highness!”

“Forgive me, but I can detect a sadness in your eyes.”

“That’s because I am an orphan.”

“I am so sorry.”

“It’s all right. But I don’t know where I’ll be for Christmas…”

“Well, Eric, I am sure you can join us here at the palace, if you like?” replied the princess.

“That’s very kind of you!” interrupted Sid. “But, well, Bessie and I have been talking and…”

But before Sid could say another word Bessie leaped in.

“We’re engaged!” she hooted.