Prince Charles and Spike Milligan were so close that he confided in Spike’s son long after his favourite funnyman had died, saying what he really thought of Paul Burrell
13:18, 20 Dec 2025Updated 13:23, 20 Dec 2025
They were the most unlikely of bedfellows, the anarchic comedian and the future King of England.
Yet Prince Charles and Spike Milligan were so close that he confided in Spike’s son long after his favourite funnyman had died. James Milligan first got in touch with Charles to thank him for the floral tribute sent by the Prince for his dad’s funeral in 2002.
Charles wrote to him on August 29, 2003, from Birkhall at Balmoral, confirming that he had received his ‘kind letter’. He told James: “I was touched that you should have taken the trouble to tell me what your father really thought. We had a highly amusing correspondence over the years, and he always addressed his letters to me in the most original way!
READ MORE: Shoppers warned of ‘significant’ change affecting anyone with a bank cardREAD MORE: Top 10 programmes to receive the most viewer complaints in 2025 – One show features four timesJames Milligan son of former comedian Spike Milligan receives letters from King Charles
“Along with many others, I miss his particular brand of humour enormously. They don’t make people like your father any more – sadly!”
James, 49, a marketing expert, was trying his hand at writing for the first time.
He has just had his first book of poems published in time for Christmas. Charles encouraged his creative efforts, and mentions his love of the novel written by Spike, ‘Puckoon’, adding: “I do hope your writing goes well and you can keep the family tradition going.
“By the way, I discovered the other day from the Goon Show Appreciation Society that there was a film of Puckoon. I got hold of it and enjoyed it hugely. All those Irish actors were a guinea a minute! My kindest wishes to you.”
This letter dates back more than 20 years
It was signed “Yours Most Sincerely, Charles.” The letter had some words underlined by the future King, and addressed ‘Dear James’ in his own handwriting before some of the typed words were underlined by him.
It became a pattern down the years, with letters sent by either Charles or his personal staff from 2002 to February this year.
The then Prince Charles wrote about royal butler Paul Burrell(Image: Getty Images)
The most revealing royal note was a reply to a letter from James about the Daily Mirror’s revelations from the royal butler Paul Burrell.
Sent on Jan 6, 2004, Charles told him: “You have no idea how touched I was by your wonderfully heartening letter the other day.”
And he confided : “I don’t know, have I gone mad or has the whole world gone mad? Perhaps all this perpetual hellishness is like steel being forged in the fire and at the end of the day, I will become a better, wiser person.
Paul Burrell, former royal butler(Image: ITV/The Diana Interview: Revenge Of A Princess)
“Whatever the case, it sure ain’t going to get any easier with the media and its insane circulation war, its chequebook journalism and its totally manufactured “stories”.
“But, as Sir Winston Churchill used to say, I will keep ‘buggering on’. And kind allies like yourself make all the difference.”
The word ‘all’ was again underlined, the distinctive style of Charles’ missives, and signed: “Yours most gratefully.”
Charles’ letter attacking Paul Burrell
James reflected: “I wonder, when you are a future king, how often an ally is prepared to get in touch directly.”
By a strange quirk of fate, Burrell recalled Spike’s night in a bathroom in Highgrove in his memoir, ‘A Royal Duty’.
Spike Milligan’s son has chosen to reveal the letters
Burrell wrote: “I don’t think either the prince or I will ever forget the visit of the eccentric comedian Spike Milligan..Alarm bells rang when he did not show for breakfast. He hadn’t slept a wink in his four poster bed because, for some inexplicable reason, stretched out on the hard bathroom floor of the ‘Blue Room’.
“Some weeks later he sent a specially made china plaque with written instructions that it be screwed to the bathroom floor. It read: ‘Spike Milligan slept here’. Charles found it hilarious.”
What is clear from the royal correspondence is how much Charles appreciated Spike’s friendship. HRH sent congratulations following the birth of James’ son Robert, now 21, for his 2005 christening and again in February this year.
James wrote a poem dedicated to Charles for his coronation, complete with a caricature of the monarch. The King was ‘touched’ by the gesture and hoped the book was ‘well received’.
The Coronation Poem
James was the lovechild of Spike from a relationship between his mum Margaret Maughan, an artist, who is now 82. Their romance began in 1967, when Spike was 58, and she was almost 30 years his junior; James was born in 1976.
Spike was in his 70s when they finally met; James was just 15 years old. The Goons Show legend paid for James’ education.
He confided in his son about Charles, his regular visits to Kensington Palace and other royal residences, with the young Prince William asking him to play piano.
They collaborated on environmental projects and shared a love of Nature.
James told the Mirror: “They were really good friends and William would ask Spike to play the Ying Tong song on the piano when they got together.
“He and Charles would discuss the environment and animal cruelty, and he would not have a bad word said against him; he only had time for people with a good heart.
“His favourite expression was that he would not spend time with ‘late human beings’, people who did not have any passion or compassion left.
“He used that term for people who were ‘late human beings and people from Lewisham’. I am not sure why he had it in for the poor people of Lewisham.”
He added: “There was a real affection between them which comes across in the letters. I think that Charles missed Spike, they had a similar mindset and I am quite proud of that fact. Dad was an activist who challenged the norm.
“He broke down many boundaries, he was, in the 60s, part of that liberation of people’s thinking. He was different in everything that he did. He seemed to take on challenges which perhaps Charles could not.”
James’ own work ‘A Book Of Poems For People Under 4ft 2″‘ features ‘Hubert Humperbump’, ‘Matilda the Python’ and ‘Clever Emma’. They would not be out of place in the irreverent work of the legendary comedian.
Spike told James that the future Prince had encouraged him in his personal campaign to save a 900-year-old tree known as the Elfin Oak near Hyde Park, first in the 1960s, then again in 1996.
The oak stump designed by Ivor Innes, unveiled in 1930, features fairies and gnomes, was allowed to remain in place, no doubt with the approval of Spike’s friend in high places.
James Milligan’s new book of poems
* A Book Of Poems For People Under 4ft 2″‘ by James Milligan is published by Nightingale Books and available for £9.99 on Amazon.
