How the Queen helped Terry Waite overcome his five-year Beirut hostage hell by putting him up at a cottage on the Balmoral estate
- Terry Waite, now 83, was taken hostage in 1987 and was held for five years
- Queen gave him access to a house normally used by Princess Anne at Balmoral
- Mr Waite was given a ‘fully stocked’ fridge and was given use of a Land Rover
- Queen Elizabeth told him to stay ‘as long as he liked’ and showed personal care
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The Queen helped Terry Waite overcome his five-year ordeal as a Beirut hostage by arranging for him to stay in a cottage on the Balmoral estate, he revealed yesterday.
She gave him access to the house, normally used by Princess Anne, for as long as he and his family needed it, he said, describing her action as ‘a real example of her personal care’.
Mr Waite, now 83, was taken hostage in 1987.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, he said that after his return, ‘I was told that the Queen had invited us all – all the family – to Balmoral.
The Queen helped Terry Waite (pictured in 2021) overcome his five-year ordeal as a Beirut hostage by arranging for him to stay in a cottage on the Balmoral estate, he revealed yesterday
She gave him access to the house, normally used by Princess Anne, for as long as he and his family needed it, he said. Pictured is the Queen meeting Terry Waite at a Commonwealth Day reception in London in 1992
‘She said, “Stay as long as you like.”
‘She recognised the fact that we needed privacy and this was where we could get it.’
The fridge was ‘totally stocked’, and he was given use of a Land Rover, ‘so everything was laid on’.
Mr Waite added he had kept in touch with Prince Philip, with whom he had ‘quite a number of good conversations at Balmoral’.
He described the Queen as ‘a wonderful, warm, kind, generous, compassionate person’.
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