Stormy scene that saw Philip snipe at the Queen: ‘Haven’t you got the intelligence?’
In the latest part of society writer Kenneth Rose’s outrageously waspish memoirs ...
[former Opera House chairman] Garrett Drogheda made Prince Philip furious by mocking the Royal Family’s indifference to opera. Apparently, the Prince told Garrett after his speech: ‘Buggered if I ever come again.’
JUNE 17, 1975
Alec Home [former Tory Pm] recalls the Queen’s reply when he asked if she would object to meeting Idi Amin of Uganda at a conference of commonwealth Prime ministers: ‘It would not be the first time I have met murderers there.’
NOVEMBER 16, 1977
GIVE [Tory Foreign Secretary] Peter carrington lunch at Wheeler’s. Peter tells me that when he was First lord of the Admiralty, michael Adeane telephoned him one day and in a bleak voice said that the Queen wanted to see him at the Palace in half an hour. When he was shown into the Queen’s room, she did not ask him to sit down but pointed to a report in the Daily express that the Royal Yacht Britannia was to be refitted at astronomical cost.
Peter explained how the ship had been badly built in the first place, how extra equipment had to be taken aboard, and how any possibility of the vessel’s breaking down in public had to be avoided.
The Queen received all this without in any way melting. ‘And who pays?’ she asked.
Peter, thinking he was at last on surer ground, replied with enthusiasm that of course it would be the Government, not the Queen.
‘I see,’ she said icily. ‘You pay and I get the blame.’ Peter was then shown out.
MARCH 31, 1979
TALKING of the Queen’s recent visit to the Gulf States, martin charteris tells me that someone said that she must have been embarrassed at receiving such immensely valuable presents and giving so little in return.
martin: ‘You don’t know her!’
EXTRACTED from Who’s In, Who’s Out: the Journals Of Kenneth rose Volume 1, 1944-1979, edited by d.r. thorpe, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson on November 1 at £30. © the Executors of the Estate of Kenneth rose, Lord Waldegrave and Marie-Louise Spencer Hamilton 2018. Editorial matter © c.d.r. thorpe. to buy this book for £24 (20 per cent off), call 0844 571 0640 or go to mailshop.co.uk/books. Offer valid until November 6, 2018. p&p is free on orders over £15. Spend £30 on books and get free premium delivery.