![]() ![]() Tony Blair's New Labour brought a new type of politics, which did not always fit in with the Queen.ĭuring the pair's first meeting, the Queen was quick to point out that Blair was just one month old when she was crowned in 1953.Īccording to Blair, she said to him: 'You are my 10th prime minister. Some have speculated that the timing of his resignation at the end of his second term was deliberately made to coincide with the breakdown of Princess Margaret's marriage, in order to distract the media from it. Ms Castle also noted that Wilson kept her "well-informed" of how things were outside her social class and encouraged her to drop some of the more archaic traditions from the reign of Queen Victoria. Then-Labour cabinet minister Barbara Castle said: "Harold was very fond of her and she reciprocated it." Wilson went on to become one of the Queen's favourite prime ministers, and the pair thoroughly enjoyed their weekly meetings. ![]() He wrote in his autobiography: "Contrary to all I had understood about the procedures, there was no formal kissing of hands." The prime minister was keen to prove himself capable of following protocol. Wilson was the first Labour prime minister the Queen encountered, offering her a new insight into life outside Britain's upper echelons. However, they had fewer than 52 audiences together, as Lord Home's term lasted two days shy of a year - the shortest in the 20th century. Lord Home and the Queen shared many interests: they both loved dogs, and he is credited with naming some of her horses.įormer private secretary Lord Charteris said the Queen "loved Alec" as they were "the same sort of people". ![]() Lord Home was the first prime minister the Queen already knew when they took office.īorn into a family of Scottish aristocrats, he was a childhood friend of the Queen Mother's, having grown up as her neighbour. This constitutional breach ended in controversy as it transpired Lord Home was not the cabinet's first choice. ![]() When the Queen visited Macmillan in hospital, he told her that the party wanted Lord Home to replace him and is believed to have convinced her to exercise her royal prerogative in sending for him. She must read the telegrams very carefully."īut it was the end of his premiership that made history. In his diaries, Macmillan praised Her Majesty's knowledge of foreign affairs, noting: "She showed, as her father used to, an uncanny knowledge of details and personalities. When he resigned, she reminded him it had lasted six years. When Harold Macmillan took office in 1957, the Conservative Party was still intensely divided over the fallout from Suez.ĭuring their first meeting, he told the Queen he doubted his government would last six weeks. "I think the Queen believed Eden was mad," he said. It was the Suez crisis of 1956 that caused Eden's downfall.Īlthough politically impartial, the Queen's former private secretary Lord Charteris has suggested the Queen was disapproving of the prime minister's handling of the crisis. Many of their audiences were spent discussing Princess Margaret's potential engagement to divorced Group Captain Peter Townsend, which eventually crumbled under the disapproval of the family. Historians say the pair got along well and that the Conservative prime minister was comforted by the Queen's listening ear. With the gigantic shoes of Churchill to fill, it was always unlikely Eden's relationship with the Queen would compare.Īccording to his wife Clarissa, when he went to Buckingham Palace to form a government, the pair talked about a number of things before the topic actually came up.Īccording to Mrs Eden, he eventually said: "Well Ma'am," to which she replied: "I suppose I ought to be asking you to form a government." Some argue his premiership was doomed from the beginning by a botched medical operation two years before he took office. Sir Anthony Eden's time with the Queen was short. ![]()
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