Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher: two queens in 'The Crown'
The arrival of the fourth season of the series The Crown, which premieres on Netflix today, has generated great expectations, especially due to the fact that it will address chapters of the life of Queen Elizabeth II much closer in time. Among them, that of her controversial relationship with Margaret Thatcher, the female prime minister of the United Kingdom and, also, the one who remained in office the longest - about twelve years - during the reign of the monarch.
"It was a rather cold relationship," tells History and Life Robert Lacey, historical consultant for the series and author of the biography of Queen Majesty and Battle of Brothers, a recent book on the dispute between Prince William and Harry. Although we are not supposed to know what the queen thinks politically, since he tries to be impartial, over time it has been detected that he is rather liberal and progressive in his ideas. On the contrary, Ms Thatcher came into office with a very right-wing agenda. Instinctively, both were suspicious of each other's ideas, ”Lacey adds.
In his biography The Real Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, journalist Andrew Marr asserts that “a wide variety of seasoned politicians, officials and courtiers who observed firsthand the Queen's relationship with Margaret Thatcher agree: it was 'difficult'". They were, Marr continues, “two women of similar age [only six months apart], but with very different backgrounds; previously strangers, they came together during the most tumultuous and conflictive years of postwar politics. "
Silent war
Dean Palmer, author of The Queen And Mrs Thatcher: An Inconvenient Relationship, goes much further. For him, the two great British leaders "got together and were instantly disgusted." In his book, he reveals that the monarch made fun of the prime minister's accent, which he found forced and overreacted, and assures that he found different methods to snub him, such as through leaks to the press.
"For more than a decade they waged a silent war both personally and politically, disagreeing on key issues such as sanctions against South Africa, the miners' strike and the authorization of US planes to bomb Libya using British military bases" says Palmer. For Lacey, "the most delicate moment of their relationship was in 1985, when the queen feared that Thatcher's opposition to imposing sanctions on the racist South African regime would fracture the Commonwealth."
In 1986, Buckingham Palace had to come out to deny speculations about possible disagreements between the two, after The Sunday Times newspaper commented on the queen's concern over the disagreement on sanctions. The newspaper also mentioned Elizabeth II's concern about the lack of consideration and the "confrontational policy" of the conservative government towards the most disadvantaged social classes, alluding to its relentless management of the miners' strikes between 1984 and 1985, which resulted in the privatization of the sector.
Positive points
In her memoirs, Thatcher denied that there was acrimony in her relationship with the monarch, joking that "the stories of confrontations between 'two powerful women' were too good not to invent." In addition, she praised the attitude of the queen in her weekly audiences, which, she maintained, went beyond a mere formality. "Her Majesty brings a formidable understanding of current issues and the breadth of experience," said the former Prime Minister.
According to Robert Lacey, the fact that the president did not reveal details about these meetings - as Tony Blair or Boris Johnson would later do - earned him the respect of the queen: “She never betrayed even the smallest detail of what they discussed in their Audiences at Buckingham Palace, in theory confidential, and that was something the queen valued a lot over the years. "
The historian points out that Thatcher also brought important victories to the Crown. “She gave the queen one of the great military victories of the United Kingdom, that of the Malvinas Islands. She made it possible for Prince Andrew to fight in that war. It was a real success, because she returned as a hero, which boosted the popularity of the royal family, as one of its members risked her life to fight for the country and was victorious.
However, as several authors maintain, tensions between the two women on the social plane would become evident. Apparently, for the prime minister, trips to Balmoral Castle, the queen's summer residence in Scotland, were a "tedious waste of time," according to Palmer. Andrew Marr agrees on this point, and assures that the prime minister took advantage of the trips to meet with other Scottish Tory politicians. “This dedication to efficient time management was noted, with some irony, by the palace. When asked if the prime minister would join the rest for a picnic, the queen sneered: 'I'm afraid you will find that Mrs Thatcher is only on the road,' ”the author recounted in her book.
Another aspect that bothered the queen was the excessive attention of the prime minister
Apparently, another aspect that bothered the queen was the excessive attention paid by the prime minister. According to Marr, at one of the barbecues at Balmoral, while the queen was collecting dishes, Margaret Thatcher would have been uncomfortable seeing her monarch doing menial work, unaided, and hastened to assist her. The queen, apparently, murmured, "Can anyone tell this woman to sit down?" Marr concludes: "The story seems like a paradigm of their relationship: a prime minister with a strong sense of authority and the ways she only tries to help, and a queen who can't help but feel irritated by her."
According to him, Thatcher was very picky and courteous with her monarch, even excessively, which strained the relationship. “She was deferential, too deferential. The queen didn't require that much, ”a close longtime observer confided to Marr. For Elizabeth II, the Prime Minister bowed more sharply than she thought necessary.
"People used to laugh at how much Margaret Thatcher leaned over, so much so that it seemed like she was going to have a hard time sitting up," recalls historian Robert Lacey. “It was a strange mix, to be so solicitous in her manner, but also so passionate about her political goals. It was said that Great Britain had two queens during those years, for that imperious style that it had. But at the same time she showed great respect for the monarchy ”.
Although some authors state that the tension between the two remained until the end, others argue that time was smoothing out rough edges. "Throughout Ms. Thatcher's tenure, the queen became more used to her and mutual affection grew," Marr says in her book. A high official of the palace confessed to the journalist in surprise how much the monarch and the premier talked, while another said: “The queen always saw the meaning of Margaret Thatcher. She understood that it was necessary ”.
"They developed great respect for each other," agrees Lacey. "The fact that Britain continued to elect Mrs Thatcher was something the queen took into account." In the historian's view, one way of measuring the degree of sympathy Elizabeth II achieved for the premier was her attendance at Thatcher's farewell dinner in Downing Street, the residence of prime ministers, an honor that, of course, not all they have had the privilege of receiving.
In the case of Margaret Thatcher, the queen not only attended this dinner, but also awarded her the Order of Merit on her departure from office and was present at her seventieth and eightieth birthday parties. She also attended, together with the Duke of Edinburgh, her final farewell in 2013, a ceremonial funeral with all military honors, in the same category as those of the Queen Mother and Princess Diana. She did not make it to a state funeral: the only prime minister and non-royal to receive her had been the one still remembered as the queen's favorite, Winston Churchill, in 1965.
