Boris Johnson learned the hard way that Queen Elizabeth II would notice if one of her beloved swans went missing.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Elizabeth was “characteristically thoughtful” when she let the former Prime Minister, 59, use the gardens of Buckingham Palace for walks with his then-fiancée, Carrie Johnson, and their son, Wilfred, 3, while Boris recovered from the virus after being admitted to the intensive care unit.
“During one such walk, to Johnson’s horror, Carrie’s Jack Russell, Dilly, attacked and killed a gosling near the palace pond,” Robert Hardman wrote in his book The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy. “He decided that it would be best to say nothing at all, forgetting that nothing went unnoticed by the Boss at Buckingham Palace.”
Hardman, 59, claimed that the next time Elizabeth and Boris saw each other, she “nonchalantly” talked about walking in the palace gardens, before adding, “I gather Jack Russells don’t go very well with goslings.” Hardman noted “that was the end of that matter.”
Hardman also alleged that “within hours” of Boris being appointed Prime Minister in July 2019, he “let it slip” to colleagues that Elizabeth’s first words to him were, “I don’t know why anyone would want the job.” (Boris held his position from 2019 to 2022.)
“If it had been a flagrant breach of the confidentiality rules regarding audiences with the monarch, she was forgiving,” Hardman wrote.
Elizabeth reigned over the United Kingdom and its Commonwealth realms for 70 years before her death at the age of 96 in September 2022. Her eldest son, King Charles III, was officially crowned king and his coronation took place in May 2023.
Elsewhere in the book, a former royal aide claimed that Elizabeth wasn’t happy with the situation surrounding Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s decision to name their daughter, Lilibet, after the late monarch.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle surprised the British public — and multiple royal relatives, apparently — by announcing in January 2020 that they intended to “step back” from their duties as senior members of the royal family. “After many months of reflection and internal discussions, we have chosen to make a transition this year in […]
The former member of the queen’s staff claimed she was “as angry as I’d ever seen her” when Harry, 39, and Meghan, 42, claimed that they had spoken with Elizabeth before naming their child. The aide alleged that the Sussexes were “rebuffed” when they asked the palace to counter a report that they hadn’t asked Elizabeth her permission to use her name.
Harry and Meghan welcomed daughter Lilibet in June 2021, noting that her name is a nod to her great-grandmother, “whose family nickname is Lilibet.” Her middle name, Diana, was a tribute to Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana. (The pair also share son Archie, 4.)
Despite these claims, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that Harry and Meghan “100 percent got permission” from Elizabeth to use the name Lilibet.
“The report is not true. [Harry and Meghan] don’t know where this is coming from,” the insider said on Tuesday, January 16. “They’re shocked that this is coming now; it seems out of nowhere and out of left field. They just feel like it’s more of the same spear campaign that continues against them.”
Loving their lives with Lilibet! Prince Harry and Meghan Markle became proud parents of a baby girl in June 2021. The little one joined big brother Archie, who arrived in May 2019. “Archie absolutely adores his little sister and gives her lots of kisses,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly after Lili’s birth. “He’s held […]
The source added that “multiple people are aware” that Harry and Meghan got Elizabeth’s blessing, adding that “they feel it’s convenient” the news is “surfacing now when the queen is not here to defend herself and can’t say what is true or false.”
The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy is out now.