Speaking of Queen Elizabeth II of "super long standby" incident, people often mention that she has experienced 15 prime ministers to show how long she has been in power.
The Queen has a tradition of meeting the Prime Minister every week, but they are all closed-door meetings, and the outside world does not know what they are talking about.
(The Queen and 5 British Prime Ministers , from left to right are Blair , Lady Thatcher , Edward Heath , James Callahan and John Major )
Many people know that according to British tradition, the queen and royal family must remain neutral in political affairs and must not express their personal positions casually.
Queen is an example in this regard. She will not easily reveal her likes and dislikes, or publicly show her special favor for an official.
However, by pieced together the details and information revealed by the royal staff, we can see how the relationship between the queen and different prime ministers is.
Generally speaking, prime ministers who are the same as Queen's Zhiqu, such as those who like horses and villages, are often easier to chat with the Queen.
Most insiders agree that the Queen is privately inclined to a country conservative , but this tendency does not prevent her from liking for prime ministers with different political positions.
For example, her two favorite prime ministers Harold Wilson and James Callahan, they are both Labour Party members.
actually has been quite a lot of gossip like this.
In short, the "familiarity is different" is also established between the queen and the prime minister...
1, Winston Churchill (1951-1955)
Churchill served as the British Prime Minister for two terms. During his term from 1951 to 1955, Elizabeth II ascended the throne and became the queen.
That was 1952. Churchill was already 77 years old and the queen was only 25 years old.
The same age difference between the two grandparents and grandchildren also made Churchill have a "grandfather's feeling like looking at his granddaughter" towards the queen.
Churchill once announced that Britain has arrived in a new "Elizabethan era". With his help, the young queen grew up quickly and withstood the doubts in the first few years. The queen reciprocates and also proposed to award him the title of "Duke of London" (Churchill did not accept it).
It is said that the Queen and Churchill had a very pleasant weekly meeting. They often chatted for two hours and laughed while racing.
A servant revealed that during their meeting, "screw laughter from time to time, and Churchill often laughed so hard that he walked out with tears."
Decades later, when the Queen was asked which Prime Minister she liked to meet the most,
It is said that she once admitted: "Of course it's Winston Churchill, because it's always fun to meet him."
Similarly, Churchill also had a high opinion of the Queen.
He once told a friend: "All moviegoers in the world are counted. If you look around the world, you can't find a person who is so suitable to play the role of the queen."
2, Harold Macmillan (1957-1963)
Macmillan As a country's Conservative Party, which was born into a noble family, naturally established a harmonious relationship with the queen.
He remembered that when he first met the Queen, she was "kind and concise".
The aftermath of the Suez crisis (i.e., The Second Middle East War ) was still there. Macmillan once told the Queen that he might only be prime minister for six weeks, but in fact he had been the prime minister for six years.
The Queen likes to listen to him gossip about politics,
Macmillan wrote in his diary that he found that the Queen was "not only very charming, but also well-informed" and "shocked by her ability to grasp details."
During Macmillan's term, many colonies of the British Empire declared independence. As the British Prime Minister, he continued to approve the withdrawal of British troops, and the Queen actively promoted the Commonwealth. The two cooperated well in this matter.
In 1963, Macmillan resigned due to poor health. It is said that the queen cried after hearing about it.
If there is any controversy about Macmillan, it is that he used his relationship with the Queen to convince her to directly appoint his noble friend Alec Douglas-Home to take over as prime minister, and
, which made Rab Butler, a candidate with higher support, missed No. 10 Downing Street.
3, Alec Douglas-Home (1963-1964)
Douglas-Home is the last prime minister appointed by the British monarch in British history.
Because of his noble family background, he was already the queen's "family friend" before he became prime minister.
In the words of a royal assistant, they are "the same type of people" and they will also talk about dogs and hunting during meetings.
4, Harold Wilson (1964-1970, 1974-1976)
Wilson has also served as the British Prime Minister for two terms.
His father is an industrial chemist, and he is a member of the Labor Party, which is very different from those Conservative Prime Ministers who came from nobles.
But he got along very well with the Queen, even one of the Queen’s favorite prime ministers in private.
His meeting with the Queen often lasted for two hours and was invited by the Queen to stay for a drink.
Wilson is a staunch monarchy advocate who smashed his Labour colleague Tony Ben's attempt to remove the queen's avatar from the British stamp.
According to Wilson, when he and his wife were invited to visit Balmeral Fort, they were about to resign. When he leaned on the kitchen bench and told the queen about this, the queen was washing dishes in her apron.
When Wilson stepped down in 1976, the Queen came to Downing Street in person and held a farewell banquet for him with Wilson's colleagues. Before
, only Churchill had enjoyed this treatment.
5, James Callahan (1976-1979)
Callahan's situation is similar to Wilson,
is not aristocratic, his father is an Royal Navy sergeant chief. Callahan himself also served in the Navy,
and is also a member of the Labor Party.
As for the scenes when meeting with the queen, Callahan has always paid more attention to keeping it confidential, but it does not prevent it from spreading interesting gossip -
It is said that once, Callahan encountered a difficult policy problem. When
asked the queen for his opinion, the queen humorously replied: "This is your reward (being the prime minister)."
1977, Callahan, the then chief of the UK, hosted the Queen's Jubilee Celebration.
He refused to stand with the queen and accept the applause: "Everyone comes to see the queen, not me."
Callahan asked his colleagues for the Jubilee Gift for the Queen, and the answer he received made him speechless.
Someone asked him to send a Labor charter, and Tony Ben suggested that he give a black coal vase carved by a miner.
Finally, Callahan didn't listen to anyone's advice and asked his wife to buy a silver coffee pot for the queen.
6, Margaret Thatcher (1979-1990)
Mrs. Thatcher was the first female prime minister the queen met.
She is also a supporter of the monarchy. She was respectful when she saw the queen, and squatted very low when she performed curtsy , which made the royal assistant laugh and had to try hard to hold back her laugh.
However, it is said that the relationship between the Queen and Thatcher is not close.
In the words of the media, "apart from painful politeness, the atmosphere between the two has not improved much."
According to insiders, the rise in unemployment rate and the riots in the city during Mrs. Thatcher's first term shocked the Queen.
In 1986, a report was published on the front page of " Sunday Times ", saying that the queen was disappointed with the "indifferent prime minister" and was worried that Mrs. Thatcher's opposition to sanctions on South Africa would undermine the Commonwealth that the queen values very much.
Moreover, Mrs. Thatcher is a workaholic, afraid that the queen will invite her to Ballemore for vacation.
A royal observer said that for Mrs. Thatcher, spending weekends with nobles who like horse riding, hunting, sports and games is a torture.
Although there are many places where they are not in harmony, insiders said there is still warmth between the Queen and Thatcher.
"They are not friends, but they respect each other's work and the role they play very much."
It is said that when Mrs. Thatcher resigned at Buckingham Palace, the queen said something warm to her that she left in tears.
Mrs. Thatcher's foreign affairs adviser Charles Powell recalled the scene at Mrs. Thatcher's 80th birthday party.
"I remember, the queen gently held Mrs. Thatcher's hand and led her around the house and talked to customers."
"At that time, Mrs. Thatcher was often confused and forgetful, and the queen was really graceful in doing this."
"Later, when the queen said goodbye, Mrs. Thatcher said she should leave too."
"At this time, the queen said that she should leave."
"At this time, the queen said that she should leave."
" Gentlely said: 'Maybe you should stay, Mrs. Thatcher, this is your party.'"
7, Tony Blair (1997-2007)
In the fictional movie "The Queen", the relationship between Labour's modernist Blair and the queen who was in her seventies at the time seemed to be difficult to deal with.
1997 Princess Diana died in a car accident. Blair asked the royal family to return to London from Balmeral to face the public.
It is said that when Blair tried to participate in the funeral arrangement of Princess Diana , the queen was shocked.
And on December 31, 1999, the Queen and Blair both participated in the celebrations held at the Millennium Dome. At the
event, when Blair pulled the Queen to sing " Friendship Long and Long ", the Queen looked shocked, and no matter how she looked, she felt that there was a generation gap between the two.
8, David Cameron (2010-2016)
News about Cameron's interaction with the Queen is often accompanied by words.
2014 Scotland held an independence referendum, and decided to stay or leave the matter, the queen urged Scots to "consider the future carefully before voting".
When Cameron talked about this to the former mayor of New York, he described the queen as "already humbled" and later had to apologize for these words.
Another time, Cameron said that he was ready to welcome "leaders of some countries with corrupt machines to the UK",
which includes Commonwealth member Nigeria , and it is obvious that he is inappropriate to say so.
9, Boris Johnson (2019-2022.09)
Boris's chaotic personal life and some extraordinary behavior make it difficult for him to become a royal darling.
He once suggested that the Queen let Parliament adjourn the meeting for more than a month so that Boris could force his Brexit plan.
Critics feel that Boris is dragging the queen into politics.
On Tuesday, Boris and his wife Carrie flew to Balmoral together and officially resigned as prime minister. The queen did not disclose her opinion.
Boris became the second-last British Prime Minister during the reign of the Queen.
10, Elizabeth Trass (current)
September 6, the Queen broke the tradition and met with the new British Prime Minister Tras in Balmoral, Scotland.
She also became the 15th British Prime Minister that the Queen had met.
At that time, the queen almost reached the last moment of her life, and still insisted on performing her official duties for the last time, and would be loyal to her duties and implement her life.
British media commented on their meeting this time and said that there may never be such a clear generational difference in the history of British modern politics.
Queen was born in 1926, and Tras was born in 1975. She was born 49 years later than the Queen, nearly half a century;
The first British Prime Minister, Churchill, the Queen, was born in 1874, and Tras was born 101 years later than him, which is a century and a year.
Now when reading these stories, after 15 Prime Ministers, for a full 70 years, the Queen of
really fulfilled her promise to "dedicate her life to Britain"......
