A former New Zealand television reporter who touted himself as a personal aide to the Queen Mother has been exposed as a fraud.
The revelation came days after national media published Colin Stanley-Hill's claims of a close relationship with the 101-year-old royal matriarch.
Stanley-Hill was a reporter for the Auckland regional televisionprogramme Town and Around in the late 1960s and early 70s and was known as Colin Hill. Following the Queen Mother's death he gave several radio, television and newspaper interviews in Australia detailing his long association with her.
Stanley-Hill was trumpeted by Channel Seven's Sunrise programme on April 1 as the Queen Mother's personal court correspondent for nine years. He recalled one of her birthdays where he spotted a "glowing" article about her that she might be interested in.
"I think it ended something like 'changeless but ever-changing, hers is an imperial bosom on which a weary world would gladly rest its head'. She sort of pulled a face and said, 'Not on my bosom he won't," Stanley-Hill recounted to a nationwide audience.
He said he was "understandably distressed" when the Palace told him of her death in an early morning phone call.
The Australian newspaper, which devoted half a page to an article by Stanley-Hill headed "Most Loved Royal Had Golden Touch", billed him as a personal aide to the Queen Mother.
It appeared on the same page as a story headed "White Lie Hides Ugly Truth" - concerning the refugee children overboard inquiry - in its April 1 edition.
ABC radio in Sydney and Brisbane also referred to Stanley-Hill as a former member of her staff.
But ABC television's Media Watch programme smelled a rat and called the Queen Mother's household for confirmation.
The information officer at Clarence House, Mary Murphy, said Stanley-Hill had never been a personal aide to the Queen Mother, never been part of her household and was never in a position to read her newspaper articles.
Stanley-Hill referred Media Watch to his lawyer, Brian Gallagher, who explained that by "personal aide" they meant "aiding the Queen Mother by writing articles about her over the years".
The Australian media has had a chequered past in connection with the death of the Queen Mother.
In a famous 1993 gaffe a Brisbane radio station declared her dead and the news spread - unchecked - across Australia.
