Queen issues eu challenge
Give me 3 good reasons to stay, she asks guests
THE Queen has asked her dinner guests to give “three good reasons why Britain should be part of Europe”, it emerged last night.
One of her most respected biographers said the 90-yearold monarch has been encouraging her guests to debate the vital question that lies at the heart of tomorrow’s European Union referendum. Robert Lacey, who has been writing about the Queen and her family for 40 years, said that he believed Her Majesty was a “Eurosceptic” at heart.
He said it was typical of her
and her family to initiate a forthright discussion about the merits of staying or leaving the EU.
Mr Lacey said the Queen asked her guests at dinner this year: “Give me three good reasons why Britain should be part of Europe.”
He said: “Throughout her reign she has been famous for going through her boxes from Government departments and finding things even prime ministers have missed. It would be surprising if she was anything other than a Eurosceptic.
“She likes to speak in a forthright way and her question produced a forthright discussion among guests.”
But he insisted the Queen – who is prevented from voting on Thursday – has not indicated a preferred result.
He said: “The fact that the Queen is a Eurosceptic does not mean she is a Brexiteer. Does she jump to Leave or does she jump to Remain and work to improve things from within the EU?
“She’s aware of the complexities for different parts of the UK. As we know, she’s very careful not to betray whatever her personal opinions may be on this.”
Buckingham Palace declined to discuss the monarch’s remarks but a spokesman said: “The Queen is above politics and acts on the advice of her Government in political matters.
“The referendum is a matter for the British people to decide.”
Palace officials said the same of the Queen’s views on the Scottish referendum.
In the event, she bowed to ministerial pressure when polls suggested Scots were about to vote for independence and intervened. Shortly before the 2014 vote she told well-wishers at Crathie Kirk at Balmoral: “Well, I hope people will think very carefully about the future.”
After Scots rejected independence, Prime Minister David Cameron was caught out revealing the Queen had “purred” down the phone to him about the result.
Last June, when Her Majesty made a speech in Germany, critics accused the Foreign Office of pressuring her to support the EU.
She told a dinner hosted by German president Joachim Gauck: “We know that division in Europe is dangerous and that we must guard against it in the West as well as in the East of our continent. That remains a common endeavour.”
Prince William was also accused of making a case for staying in the EU in a Foreign Office speech. But Palace aides insisted the Royal Family was above politics.