Claims that the former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the late Queen had a strained relationship were ‘nonsense,’ a royal insider has revealed.
On paper, Queen Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher should have had one of the best working relationships of any monarch and Prime Minister.
They were both a similar age – with Thatcher just months older than Elizabeth – and both grew up during the Second World War where they did their part to help the war effort.
And, perhaps crucially, they were also both powerful women in a world that was still very much dominated by men.
However, despite this, their relationship during Thatcher’s 11 years as prime minister was instead defined by rumours that the pair did not get along.
This burst on to the front pages of the papers in 1986 when it was revealed that Elizabeth was said to be ‘dismayed’ by the ‘uncaring’ PM’s refusal to impose sanctions on apartheid South Africa, fearing that Mrs Thatcher’s decision would split the Commonwealth.
It was the most apparent public falling out between the Queen and her prime minister of her reign. And the rift was even a prominent plotline in the hit Netflix series The Crown.
However, royal author and broadcaster Gyles Brandreth has claimed that their relationship was not as icy as the press at the time claimed but instead was misunderstood.
Queen Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher at a meeting of Commonwealth leaders in 1979. On paper, Queen Elizabeth II and Thatcher should have had one of the best working relationships of any monarch and prime minister
Thatcher and the Queen at the National Portrait Gallery in 2000. Their relationship during Thatcher’s 11 years was defined by rumours that the pair did not get along
Thatcher, then the Leader of the Opposition, is seen curtseying as she shakes hands with the Queen at the Inter-Parliamentary Conference in Westminster Hall in 1975
Writing in his royal biography Elizabeth, An Intimate Portrait, Brandreth said that Thatcher told him that talk of the pair having a strained relationship was ‘a lot of nonsense’ and the Queen described the late Tory Prime Minister as ‘simply marvellous’ highlighting her commitment to the Commonwealth and the Armed Forces.
Brandreth claims that while the Queen and Thatcher might not have seen eye-to-eye on policies – with the Queen having been known to be a small-c conservative compared to Thatchers more right-wing views – there is no evidence to suggest Elizabeth actively disliked Thatcher.
The broadcaster highlights that the Queen showed the first female PM ‘considerable respect’ during her long period in office.
For example, she dined at No.10 in 1985, appointed Thatcher the Order of Merit within a fortnight of her resignation in 1990 and honoured her with the Order of the Garter five years later.
On top of this, Elizabeth was a guest at both Thatcher’s 70th and 80th birthday celebrations and she attended Thatcher’s funeral in 2013. The only other funeral that she attended was Winston Churchill.
This however does not mean there is no evidence that their personalities clashed on more than one occasion.
According to former royal butler Paul Burrell, Elizabeth II started washing up once in front of then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher after a picnic.
Thatcher was adamant that the monarch should not be cleaning kitchenware. But Paul claims a compromise was found when Elizabeth told Thatcher: “Well I’ll wash, will you dry?”‘
Royal author and broadcaster Gyles Brandreth has claimed that Thatcher and the Queen’s relationship was not as icy as the press at the time claimed but instead was misunderstood
The Queen and Baroness Thatcher at her 80th birthday party. Brandreth claims that while the Queen and Thatcher might not have seen eye-to-eye on policies there is no evidence to suggest Elizabeth actively disliked Thatcher
Thatcher curtsy for the Queen at her 70th birthday party. Brandreth highlights that the Queen showed the first female PM ‘considerable respect’ during her long period in office including attending two of her birthday parties
Pictured: the Queen, Prince Philip and the Prince and Princess of Wales with the then- Prime Minister John Major and four former PMs: Margaret Thatcher, Edward Heath, Harold Wilson and James Callaghan
In another instance at Balmoral in the eighties, Susannah Constantine claimed that Thatcher once ‘booted the Queen out for the way’ in order to make tea for herself.
The fashion guru, who dated the Queen’s nephew David Linley for eight years, said that the former Prime Minister ‘just wanted control’ and was ‘incredibly bossy’.
Susannah said that the royal party were in a fishing hut on the grounds of the Scottish castle when Her Majesty was trying to serve her guests tea.
‘The Queen would want to pour everyone’s tea and I remember Margaret Thatcher almost booting her out of the way to pour the tea herself for everyone,’ she said.
As a staunch royalist, Thatcher had huge admiration for the Queen and – according to Brandreth – ‘never failed to show her respect for the Queen’.
This included arriving on time for her weekly meetings with Her Majesty but in some cases the Iron Lady would take her punctuality to the extreme.
‘Whenever it [her weekly meeting] was scheduled to take place at Windsor Castle, she would get her driver to arrive on the outskirts of Windsor at least half an hour early for the appointment and they would sit in a lay-by,’ Brandreth wrote.
During their very first meeting in 1979, a nervous Thatcher reportedly went into the ‘deepest curtsy the equerry had ever seen’.
The Queen curtsy for the Queen outside Downing Street in 1985. When Thatcher first met ELizabeth in 1979 she curtsied so deep the monarch had to help her up
Thatcher and the Queen in 1983. As a staunch royalist, Thatcher had huge admiration for the Queen and – according to Brandreth – ‘never failed to show her respect for the Queen’.
Brandreth wrote that the newly elected Thatcher was very nervous ahead of the meeting and the equerry guiding her to the Queen in the palace sensed her nervousness and reminded her to curtsy.
Once in the room, Thatcher’s curtsied so far down that she couldn’t get back up.
The equerry told Brandreth: ‘We had to help her up. I took one side and the Queen took the other. We brought her to her feet and said no more about it.
‘After the audience, when I collected Thatcher to take her back to her car, I said “Shall we just pause in this anteroom for a little curtsy practice?” We did.’
Over 25 years later, at her 80th birthday party Thatcher performed another noticeably deep curtsy when greeting the Queen and Prince Philip at her 80th birthday party.
Daily Mail columnist Andrew Pierce witnessed the curtsy firsthand and recalled the moment on an episode of the Mail’s Reaction podcast.
Pierce said Her Majesty’s presence at the glitzy party at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge betrayed the ‘nonsense’ that the Queen did not like Britain’s first female PM.
‘The helicopter landed in Hyde Park, the Queen and Prince Philip arrived,’ he added.
Thatcher shakes hands with Prince Philip and curtsy for the Queen as she greets them outside her 70th birthday party
‘Mrs. Thatcher did the deepest curtsy you’ve ever seen… at the age of 80. I didn’t think she was ever gonna get up again.’
It came a decade after Mrs Thatcher appeared to curtsey even lower to the Queen at her 70th birthday party.
And on several occasions while in Downing Street between 1979 and 1990, Mrs Thatcher was pictured curtseying to the monarch – who she saw regularly at their weekly audiences.
On the episode of The Reaction, Mr Pierce also described the touching moment when the Queen held Baroness Thatcher’s hand at her 80th.
The former PM was then both physically frail and had a failing memory.
‘It was so lovely,’ he told co-presenter and fellow Mail writer Sarah Vine.
‘And she only stayed for two or three hours, but she was telling the world I’m at my former prime minister’s birthday party.’
