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Today would have been Margaret Thatcher’s 100th birthday.
The Iron Lady was the most marmite of British politicians, conjuring up feelings of admiration amongst some and deep disdain among others.
In the case of Thatcher’s relationship with the late Queen Elizabeth II it was dogged by rumours that the pair did not get along.
This frostiness 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 the prime minister of her reign. And the rift was even a prominent plotline in the hit Netflix series The Crown.
But for all the claims of a tense working relationship, as a staunch monarchist, Thatcher had the highest respect for the Queen and the Crown.
Writing in his new book about the history of the monarch and Prime Minister’s relationship, titled Power and the Palace, royal author Valentine Low goes as far to say Thatcher held the Queen in ‘awe’.
But her determination to not put a foot wrong during her weekly meetings turned what had typically been an informal one-on-one audience with the Queen into a tense affair.
Queen Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher in 1979
Thatcher curtsies for the Queen in 1975. The Iron Lady was famous for her deep curtsies
Low wrote: ‘The Tory leader’s former private secretary Robin Butler said that the Queen “was held in awe by Margaret Thatcher”, whose middle-class provincial background meant that the palace was an environment in which she looked but “never felt comfortable”.
‘He said: “The court slightly looked down on her. But in the way they do: they would go out of their way with showing good manners to make her feel as comfortable as possible, but in such an obvious way that it had the reverse effect”.’
Thatcher’s own discomfort was obvious because of how low she would curtsy and how early the PM would arrive for her meetings with the Queen.
And in the meetings, Thatcher was ‘notoriously quite tense’ and often needed a whiskey afterwards.
Over her long 11 years in office, Thatcher began to view the meetings as not ‘the most productive use of her time’.
Low continued: ‘On a number of occasions she ruled out her weekly audience because it clashed with other commitments, including a meeting over drinks with top-level French bankers.’
Thatcher even tried to change dates to fit her diary.
‘This seemed to cause some irritation at the palace. When Number 10 wanted to change the time of an audience yet again, her private secretary Clive Whitmore wrote: “I really think this will be pushing our luck with the Palace”.’
Thatcher was the most marmite of British politicians, conjuring up strong feels of admiration amongst some and deep disdain among others
Writing in his new book about the history of the monarch and Prime Minister’s relationship, titled Power and the Palace, royal author Valentine Low (pictured) writes that Thatcher held the Queen in ‘awe’
Thatcher was similarly uncomfortable during her summer trips to Balmoral which historian Ben Pimlott claims she viewed as ‘purgatory’.
Low added: ‘On the day she was due to leave, she would be up and ready to go at six in the morning, recalled a former adviser. She couldn’t get away fast enough.’
But for all the discussion of their personality clashes, there was no animosity between the two.
Low simply described their relationship as ‘more business-like than warm, and the truth is that they were very different characters’.
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.
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 Thatcher’s 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 that of Winston Churchill.
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