Queen of the World: Elizabeth II: Sovereign and Stateswoman

by Robert Hardman

  The Queen quoted George III’s famous words about being the last man to want separation but the first to seek the ‘friendship of the United States as an independent power’. She also spoke of how the British Empire had been transformed into the Commonwealth ‘with imagination and good will’. There was some amusement when the after-dinner cabaret, pop duo The Captain & Tennille, launched into their moderately risqué hit ‘Muskrat Love’. That turned to considerable un-amusement when the President invited the Queen to dance. The band chose that very moment to strike up a different tune: ‘The Lady Is a Tramp’. The press, however, were thrilled.

  The royal couple arrived by Royal Yacht in New York, where the Queen went shopping at Bloomingdale’s. Britannia’s future captain, Anthony Morrow, remembers the drama and attention: ‘It was massive – floodlights and flags. We did a Sunset ceremony and an opera singer on board broke into the national anthems as they were being played. It was wonderful.’

  There would be a state banquet for the Fords on board, in Rhode Island, during which US security officials insisted that a special telephone had to be installed to ensure permanent communication with the President. When the Chief Petty Officer attempted to make a call from the ship, he was surprised to hear a mysterious voice saying: ‘We are never off this line.’ There would also be a small but deeply symbolic tweaking of protocol, in honour of the USA. Though Royal Navy rules did not normally permit the piping aboard of a non-royal dignitary dressed in plain clothes, the Queen insisted that an exception should be made for President Ford.

  The royal party sailed on to Boston and thence crossed the border to Montreal in time to open the 1976 Olympics. Britain may have been an international laughing stock. One month before, the pound had reached a new low against the dollar and two months later, the Chancellor of the Exchequer would go on bended knee to the International Monetary Fund in search of a bail-out. For a jaded British public, the Queen’s North American tour at least provided a comforting sense that the country still carried some sort of clout.

  In her Christmas broadcast, the Queen returned to the theme of reconciliation embraced so vividly on her US tour. ‘Who would have thought, 200 years ago, that a descendant of King George III could have taken part in these celebrations?’ she asked. ‘The United States was born in bitter conflict with Britain but we didn’t remain enemies for long. From our reconciliation came incalculable benefits to mankind and a partnership which, together with many countries of the Commonwealth, was proved in two world wars and ensured that the light of liberty was not extinguished.’

  The visit marked the revival of a relationship that would reach new heights during the Ronald Reagan years.

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  The next President to be her guest in Britain was Jimmy Carter. She had met him during the bicentenary but his trip to London in 1977, for a G7 summit and a NATO meeting, was memorable for two reasons. First, he surprised his hosts by announcing that it was the first time he had ever set foot outside the USA. Second, he became a little over-familiar with the Queen Mother. As William Shawcross notes in her official biography, the Queen Mother hated being told that she reminded people of their own mothers. Having informed her that she did, indeed, remind him of his own mother – ‘Miz Lillian’ – Carter kissed the Queen Mother on the lips. As she later remarked, no one had done that since the death of George VI. ‘I took a sharp step backwards,’ she recalled, ‘not far enough.’

  If Carter was the most awkward presidential visitor to the Palace, he would be succeeded by perhaps the most charming. Under Ronald Reagan, the transatlantic relationship would be as ‘special’ as it had been at any stage since D-Day. Not only would he get on famously with the occupants of both Downing Street and Buckingham Palace, but he was also extremely comfortable on a horse, a skill that would lead to one of the most celebrated photographs of the Queen’s reign.

  It was the Prince of Wales who first got to know the Reagans, when on shore leave while serving in the Royal Navy. He was entertained by Nancy Reagan in both California and Washington. She made such an impression on the Heir to the Throne that he insisted she come to his wedding in 1981. It was no mere diplomatic invitation. At the family party afterwards, the first lady joined Princess Grace of Monaco at the Queen’s table.

  The following year, when Britain embarked on that bold and precarious mission to the other end of the world to liberate the Falkland Islands, Reagan would be a staunch ally. Just like the UK’s Commonwealth allies, America came down firmly on Britain’s side. For the Queen, as both a proud head of the Armed Forces and the mother of a serving Royal Navy officer,† America’s support was deeply felt. So both the Queen and her Prime Minister were keen to make a great fuss of Reagan when they invited him to Britain during his European tour of June 1982. Reagan was trying to juggle a G7 summit in France with state visits to Italy and Germany, plus an audience with the Pope. His staff did not want the elaborate hoopla of a state visit to Britain as well.

  So it was agreed that the Reagans would come to Windsor Castle for a semi-private stay – and a spot of riding – with the Queen, in between more formal visits on the continent. They arrived by helicopter in time for a small black-tie dinner with the Royal Family on the first night. The next morning, the world’s press had arrived for a prearranged photo opportunity, with the two heads of state on horseback. Reagan enjoyed some cheerful banter with the photographers. ‘If you stand still, I’ll take it over the top,’ he yelled astride Centennial, one of the Queen’s stallions. The Queen, who had no wish for a press conference, set off on Burmese, her Canadian mare, with Reagan in hot pursuit, followed by teams of bodyguards on both four legs and four wheels. It was a proper ride, lasting a good hour and covering much of the park. It included a stop to talk to the farmworkers responsible for the two royal dairy herds, precisely the sort of encounter enjoyed by George III – ‘Farmer George’ – when he rode out there each day two centuries before.

  The King who lost America would be a theme of the speeches that followed later in the day. Reagan became the first US President to address both Houses of Parliament. The White House had wanted him to address MPs and peers in Westminster Hall, the great hammer-beamed medieval chamber where deceased monarchs lie in state. However, use of the hall would require cross-party support, and the Labour leader, Michael Foot, would not agree. Margaret Thatcher duly arranged for the Royal Gallery to be used, but Reagan’s officials told the British that the deal was off. It fell to the British Ambassador, Sir Nico Henderson, to calm things down by pointing out that both the French and Soviet leaders had spoken in the same place and ‘it would look petty’ for the President to refuse.

  It was a tour de force by the former Hollywood actor with the common touch. Reagan joked that when he had dined beneath a portrait of George III at the British Embassy in Washington, Mrs Thatcher had urged him to let ‘bygones be bygones’. His visit to Europe, he said, was very simple: to combat totalitarianism. In a foretaste of perhaps his most famous quote,‡ he declared: ‘From here I will go to Berlin, where there stands a grim symbol of power untamed. The Berlin Wall, that dreadful gray gash across the city.’ He was applauded as he linked liberation struggles through history to the battle for the Falklands and Britain’s Blitz spirit during the war. Reagan particularly enjoyed retelling the story of the London woman pulled from the wreckage of her own home after an air raid: ‘The rescuers found a bottle of brandy. And since she was barely conscious, one of the workers pulled the cork to give her a taste of it. She came around immediately and said, “Here now – put it back. That’s for emergencies”.’

  He was on equally gregarious form later as 158 guests gathered for dinner in St George’s Hall, Windsor. Here, the Queen had laid on exactly the same display of priceless china, crystal and silver gilt that she would produce for a state visit, even though this did not technically qualify as one. She, too, had a George III joke, as she recalled the warmth of the reception she had received during the bicentenary: ‘Had King George III been ab
le to foresee the long-term consequences of his actions, he might not have felt so grieved about the loss of his colonies.’

  She saluted Reagan’s ‘honesty, patience, and skill’ as both an ally and intermediary. He, in turn, talked of royal ‘tradition and renewal’, and his excitement at an imminent royal arrival. The most obvious absentee from the dinner was just about to give birth to Prince William. ‘We in America share your excitement about the impending birth of a child to the Prince and the Princess of Wales,’ said Reagan. ‘We pray that God will continue to bless your family with health, happiness, and wisdom.’ The two heads of state had not merely hit it off. This was a friendship that would endure long after Reagan had done the one thing the Queen would not do – retire.

  Following that hugely successful Windsor visit by the Reagans in 1982, the Queen made a return trip to the USA early in 1983, fulfilling a lifetime’s ambition to tour the West Coast. Since the President was a former governor of California, she was in good hands. Not wanting to mire the trip in extra layers of protocol and the full Washington rigmarole, the two governments never billed this as a ‘state visit’, but as a ‘royal visit’, bolting it on to a tour of Mexico that took place immediately beforehand. That way, the Royal Yacht was already perfectly positioned on the Pacific coast.

  As with her previous visit, the tour began with atrocious weather, so much so that the Queen had to be transported around San Diego in a US Navy bus. In Hollywood, Ronald Reagan laid on a star-packed lunch for 500. The entertainment included Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope and Perry Como, but the arrangements left some of the local talent rather peeved. ‘Ronald Reagan was asked who should be at the top table,’ recalls Sir Brian Fall, then serving as Private Secretary to the British Foreign Secretary, Francis Pym. ‘Should it be actor friends or political friends? He couldn’t sort it out so he said: “Why don’t we pack it out with Brits in Hollywood?” ’

  The result was a top table full of British-born stars like Julie Andrews and Dudley Moore. For some status-obsessed Hollywood egos, it was all too much. The Palace press office, which had played no part in the planning, was left fending off accusations that the Queen was only interested in sitting with fellow Brits. ‘I was on the table next door with Julie Andrews’s husband,§’ Sir Brian recalls. ‘He was so pissed off at not being on the right table that he walked off and left a gap.’ Others, like Jack Valenti, President of the Motion Picture Association, were less prickly. ‘Valenti thought he was big enough to host his own table,’ says Sir Brian.

  The dreadful weather continued, to the point that even the Queen’s journey from the Yacht’s berth at Long Beach to the nearest airport was in doubt. At the last minute, an off-duty (unshaven) school bus driver and his (unwashed) vehicle were commandeered to get the royal party to the airport in time to fly to Santa Barbara. They were due for lunch at the Reagans’ ranch. On landing, more heavy-duty off-road vehicles were needed to get them up the hill, where fog and rain precluded the two things the Queen had most been looking forward to: the view and an excursion with the President on horseback. She did her best to boost the morale of some very disappointed hosts. ‘I’ve never seen such rain, never. Our ranch was way up at the top of a hill up these windy roads; and we were sure the Queen wouldn’t come,’ Nancy Reagan told William Shawcross. ‘When they got there, we were full of apologies; she kept saying “No, this is an adventure! This is an adventure!” ’

  The Reagans had prepared an intimate Tex-Mex lunch with tacos and refried beans (according to Sally Bedell Smith, the Queen later said how much she had enjoyed the ‘used beans’). Sir Brian Fall says that while the Queen had been hoping for some interesting conversation about politics, the President turned out to be very much in ranch mode. ‘Here she was having her tête-à-tête with the leader of the Western world. And yet he refused to talk politics. It was all about being on the farm and chopping wood! I think she’d have enjoyed some serious politics.’

  Back in Long Beach, the first lady dined with the royal couple aboard Britannia and stayed the night on board. It was another highly unusual and personal touch, a reminder of the way in which tours of the USA might often depart from the usual script.

  The next stop was San Francisco, though there was a further change of plan. ‘The idea was for Britannia to chunter up and go through the Golden Gate Bridge but the weather was so foul, she couldn’t get there,’ says Sir Brian. ‘I’m flying to San Francisco,’ the Queen told her officials. ‘I’m not going on this boat.’

  The Reagans put Air Force Two at the Queen’s disposal instead. Staff recall her excitedly pressing her face against the aircraft’s window to enjoy an aerial view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Now there was a fresh problem. Where to stay? There was no Yacht in San Francisco and there was an urgent need to find accommodation for a monarch, a consort and both royal and presidential entourages. In no time, the combined power of the White House, the Palace and the personal contacts of the former state governor soon sorted things out. The Queen and the Duke were installed in the Presidential Suite at the St Francis Hotel. Nancy Reagan even arranged for works of art from local museums to be rounded up and hung on the walls. ‘The next question was: where to go for dinner?’ says Sir Brian. The President’s well-connected deputy chief of staff came to the rescue. ‘Mike Deaver managed to empty Trader Vic’s so we went there.’ For the Queen, who had not eaten in a restaurant for fifteen years, it was a novel experience, right down to being given a fortune cookie at the end (she read the message and then put it in her handbag).

  Britannia finally caught up and, two days later, the Queen and the Duke organised a return dinner for the President on board. It also happened to be the Reagans’ thirty-first wedding anniversary. ‘They were so nice, so sweet and the crew made us a huge anniversary card and a cake,’ the former first lady recalled. ‘They toasted us and after all of this, Ronnie got up and said: “I know I promised Nancy everything in the world when we got married but I don’t know how I can top this.” And then after dinner, I sang: “Our love is here to stay”.’

  Not since the war had the ‘special relationship’ been quite this tender, though it would be tested seven months later, following that American invasion of one of the Queen’s realms, Grenada, without any word of warning to the head of state.

  The Queen’s affection for America, and for her many friends there, was such that she returned for private tours of ranches and studs in 1984, 1986 and 1989. It was during her 1984 tour – while visiting her mare, Round Tower, then stabled at the Kentucky ranch of Will and Sarah Farish – that she received news of the attempted assassination of Margaret Thatcher at the Conservative Party conference in Brighton.

  ***

  Following the first Gulf War of 1990, and Britain’s support for the US-led liberation of Kuwait, however, it was time for another very public journey across the Atlantic. George H. W. Bush was now in the White House and, with his wife Barbara, would become firm royal friends. Of all the US presidents, Bush was closest to the Queen in age. Like her (and Prince Philip), he had served in the Second World War. At one point the youngest aviator in the US Navy, he was shot down over the Pacific in 1944, but went on to complete fifty-eight combat missions. Two years in to his administration, he had invited the Queen to pay a state visit and to enjoy a very great accolade. She would be the first British monarch in history to address a joint session of Congress. By now, much of the US media was more interested in the cracks in the royal fairytale that were starting to filter through from the British press, although it would be another two years before the Queen’s ‘annus horribilis’. The Washington Post heralded the visit with a less-than-reverential piece that would have been unthinkable during her previous state visit. It began: ‘The Queen’s a frump, Chuck’s a chump, Fergie’s plump and her Dad’s a cad. Anne’s spouse is a louse, her brother’s a fop, and Di’s fancy marriage is clearly a flop.’

  Yet once the Queen had landed on US soil, America soon rediscovered its appetite for royal razzmatazz. There
was an inauspicious start, following President Bush’s formal welcome on the White House lawn. He stepped aside from the lectern and invited the Queen to respond. She began with a joke of sorts – ‘It is fifteen years since our last visit to Washington, when, with a gallant disregard for history, we shared wholeheartedly in the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the founding of this great nation.’ Although her audience laughed at the joke, the problem was that no one could see her. The British Ambassador at the time, Sir Antony Acland, says it was a simple oversight: ‘After his speech of welcome President Bush, who wasn’t very well at the time, was supposed to press a pedal which lifted the platform on which the Queen was going to speak. He forgot to do it. And the Queen being half his size, was mostly invisible to a lot of people.’ The moment was encapsulated in the words of NBC’s Jim Miklaszeski: ‘She’s gone! All I got is a talking hat!’ To this day, Palace officials and diplomats still refer to the state visit as ‘the talking hat tour’.

  Two days later, 16th May 1991, the Queen came to make her address to Congress. As Acland reported back to London, ‘the atmosphere in the Chamber was one of genuine and unusually well-behaved anticipation’. They were not to be disappointed. ‘Her Private Secretary and I said it would be excellent if she could start her speech with a very simple joke,’ says Acland. ‘She was somewhat reluctant to do this. She said she wasn’t in the habit of making jokes in her speeches. So I didn’t know if she was going to do it but she came in and looked around and smiled and said: “I do hope you can see me today”. And she got a standing ovation.’