Bianca loves attention, so whenever tourists pass through the courtyard of San Anton Palace she hops on to the windowsill and strikes a pose to get caressed and photographed.

The feline diva also adores lying on the red carpet whenever it is rolled out for President George Abela, with whom she shares the palace grounds.

“She loves that red carpet. It’s as though she’s on a sunbed,” says the President’s security officer, Sergeant Noel Camilleri, who admits he has a soft spot for Bianca, renowned for her friendly nature.

“She even cuddles up with the peacocks,” Staff Sergeant Melvyn Bugeja adds.

The white feline has a thing for men in uniform because she has turned the palace guardroom into her home. And she is not alone.

Three other cats – all female – have become residents of the guardroom and occasionally wander into the palace rooms.

The San Anton Palace guard cats are not the only high-ranking felines. Over the last century, many cats served as Chief Mouser to the British Prime Minister. Rufus of England moved into Downing Street in the 1920s under Labour Prime Minister Ramsey McDonald. Many others followed.

The White House, in Washington, also had its fair share of fluff. To name just a few, President Ronald Reagan adopted two tortoiseshell strays called Cleo and Sara. There was also Slippers, adopted by President Theodore Roosevelt, and Bill Clinton had a cat called Socks.

Although there are many strays in Malta’s palace gardens, the four mentioned here are different. They were adopted by the guards and are now part of the security team.

They too contribute to the palace’s security by pricking up their ears when they hear a noise and patrolling the grounds from all sorts of angles – tree branches, windows, car tops – you name it. They are also excellent at pretending to be asleep, to catch sneaky intruders unawares. In true comrade spirit, the guards make sure the cats have a warm spot in front of the heater, when they head back to base.

But their fluffy colleagues sometimes prefer other spots like the Christmas crib, the sofa … or a uniform.

“Some years ago, one of our colleagues was on leave. We realised there was a cat in his locker, so we called him to come and open it and found a cat had given birth on his uniform,” Lance Bombardier Antoine Said smiles.

One of the resident security cats, Lucy, likes spending most of her day close to the kitchen door, waiting for someone to walk through so she can run for it and get to some tasty morsel ... and ensure the President’s food is not poisoned! She gets full marks for perseverance because, despite being escorted out countless times, she keeps trying.

Apart from Bianca and Lucy, who have been there longest, there are the other two cats: a black and white one and a tortoiseshell.

All four seem to have a particular bond with Lance Bombardier Said. His colleagues admit he deserves this special affection because he cares for them immensely and is the one who usually feeds them and worries if they do not turn up.

“They make you love them. I have no favourites …

“They bring joy to a long day at work,” he says as the tortoiseshell cat rubs against his boots.

Attention-seeker Bianca getting cuddles from Lance Bombardier Antoine Said as she ‘mans’ the sentry box. Photo: Jason Borg

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