Queen “fuming” over David Cameron's tell-all memoir
The former British Prime Minister David Cameron has landed himself in hot water with the monarchy over his admission about his relationship with the Queen in his new memoir.
The politicians For The Record was published on Thursday, causing a stir as it is the first time the former PM has spoken about the 2016 Brexit referendum and its aftermath.
The lengthy autobiography, spanning over 703 pages, has dished out a number of juicy details from his six years in office - from the internal workings of the Conservative Party to the rise of ISIS.
However, what left the Queen “displeased” in Mr Cameron’s work was his comments about the 93-year-old Monarch.
In a BBC interview which accompanied publication, Mr Cameron said he sought the sovereign’s guidance and help ahead of the 2014 Scottish independence vote.
Queen Elizabeth greeting David Cameron, 2010.
He said he’d asked the Queen whether she could “raise an eyebrow” about what leaving the UK might mean for the Scots.
According to Mr Cameron, the discussion with the Queen’s officials was not “anything that would be in any way improper … but just a raising of the eyebrow even … a quarter of an inch.”
A royal source stated conversations between Queen Elizabeth and the PM being made public would “serve no one’s interests”.
“It makes it very hard for the relationship to thrive,” the palace source said.
This wasn’t the only detail to slip about the private affairs between the 93-year-old and the former PM.
Mr Cameron wrote details about holidaying at the Queen’s “summer haven,” Balmoral Castle - a place where she would drive at “breakneck speed” across the countryside.
His book also said Prince Philip would host barbecues and flip burgers, before cleaning up himself.
“Literally, the Queen of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth Realms topping up your drinks, clearing up your plates and washing up,” he wrote.
The politician revealed the key preparations for the famous “audience” the Queen has held with every Prime Minister since Winston Churchill.
“One: always check the BBC headlines, in case you’ve missed something (I usually turned up just after the 6 o’clock news, and in any event, she is phenomenally well-informed).
“Two: always check what’s going on in the horseracing world. A quick call to Tom Goff, my racing expert friend, would bring me up to speed on whether one of the Queen’s horses had won that week, or another had recently had a foal. Her knowledge of the turf is prodigious.
“During a separate conversation, the week after my father died, the Queen said how sorry she was, and asked if his horse was running at Windsor that evening. It was. I had absolutely no idea about it, and was completely lost for words.”
Mr Cameron added Her Majesty was “better informed than most politicians” and wrote he would always leave with a “spring in his step”.
The former country’s leader admitted in an interview with John Humphry, some of his comments about the monarch - particularly the one where he said the Queen “purred down the line” to him after informing her Scotland had voted no to independence - was a “terrible mistake”.