Koo Stark's parrot used to wreak havoc at Buckingham Palace when she took it to see her then-boyfriend Prince Andrew.

Prince Andrew

Prince Andrew

The 58-year-old artist's feathered friend, a roseate cockatoo called Candy, once got her claws stuck in the hessian wallpaper at the royal residence which left Andrew having to scamper up a ladder to rescue the bird before it did any damage.

Koo - who first dated Andrew in 1981 - explained: "I could come and go to visit my boyfriend in Buckingham Palace without causing an international scandal - I even used to take my pet parrot with me. Candy was a roseate cockatoo.

"On one such day, a page came in carrying a huge silver tray with tea on it. Candy took fright and flew up to the ceiling, where she got her claws stuck in the 1970s hessian wallpaper.

"She couldn't get down, so Andrew took charge, found a ladder used by royal staff to clean the chandeliers and rescued her."

Koo also visited Andrew at Balmoral, and claimed the royal family spent a lot of evenings at their Scottish royal residence "pretending the dog hasn't farted".

Breaking her 32-year silence on their relationship in a piece for the Mail on Sunday newspaper, she added: "At Balmoral, life is lived outdoors and the evenings are spent playing parlour games, doing jigsaws and pretending the dog hasn't farted."

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