Queen’s rage at Thatcher
Moody PM’s apartheid blunder HM’s agony at weekly summit
MARGARET Thatcher enraged the Queen by defying Commonwealth leaders in a vote over apartheid, newly declassified files reveal.
Her Majesty was so furious that she considered scrapping her weekly audience with the prime minister, a Buckingham Palace source told a diplomat.
The fallout between the two leaders occurred at a Commonwealth conference in 1987. Files from the National Archives of Ireland show that the former Tory PM sparked international anger after refusing to back tighter sanctions against South Africa.
The move had been agreed by 47 leaders at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Vancouver, Canada, but Mrs Thatcher refused, thwarting efforts to end apartheid and enraging heads of state.
An Irish diplomat based in London reported back to Dublin that it was widely regarded that the PM had “blundered badly” and “she well knows but cannot admit her mistake”.
After speaking with a source at Buckingham Palace, he sent a confidential message to the Taoiseach’s office. The diplomat wrote: “There is a wide view too that the Queen is in a rage with Mrs Thatcher over her handling of the sanctions (the Queen, it is said, sees the insensitivity as further damaging ‘her’ Commonwealth at a sensitive time).”
Using the nickname Brenda, which was given to the Queen by satirical magazine Private Eye, the diplomat continued: “A source in the palace said that ‘Brenda’ was seriously considering cancelling last night’s Tuesday audience with the prime minister. This audience... has existed for more than a century.”
The diplomat also feared that AngloIrish relations could suffer “in the short term at least by Mrs Thatcher’s present mood”. He said: “We have in the past seen some examples of how the PM’s moods can make life more difficult for those around her.”
When David Cameron met Nelson Mandela in 2006, the former Tory PM apologised for Mrs Thatcher’s “mistake” in opposing sanctions and said she was wrong to have referred to Mr Mandela’s ANC party as “terrorists”.
He said: “The mistakes my party made in the past with respect to relations with the ANC and sanctions on South Africa make it all the more important to listen now.”