Sir John Major’s Interview on ITN Following the Death of HM Queen Elizabeth II – 8 September 2022
Sir John Major’s interview with ITN on 8 September 2022.
INTERVIEWER
A very good evening to you, Sir John. First of all, your thoughts this evening?
SIR JOHN MAJOR
I think it’s heartbreaking news and it will be extremely sad news for millions of people across this country and far beyond. The Queen has been in the warp and weft of our lives for 70 years and there are many people in this country who remember nothing but the Queen being our Monarch. So I think there’ll be many tears shed tonight and justifiably so for a very remarkable woman.
INTERVIEWER
I mean, it must be hard for you to compute how many personal memories you must have of your encounters with her in those private moments when she would have listened and offered words of advice. Just talk to us a little bit about those.
SIR JOHN MAJOR
When people normally ask that question, they have in mind the private audiences the Prime Minister has with the Queen. Of course, that’s entirely true, but they were very informal. It was just the Queen and the Prime Minister, they would sit together perhaps for an hour, perhaps longer, mostly longer in my experience, surrounded only by the corgis. There’s no record made of the meeting and there’s no private secretary present. It’s entirely private and there is no issue that is off the agenda. Either Her Majesty or the Prime Minister can raise and talk about anything.
They’re extraordinarily useful as every Prime Minister will tell you. But there are other occasions as well, I remember visits to Balmoral when you were a guest of the Queen and Prince Philip and they were very informal. There would almost certainly be an informal evening out with a barbecue which Prince Philip would cook and as the Queen at the end of the barbecue would insist on doing the washing up and deny any help from any source. They were very informal.
People forget behind the facade of Majesty and the importance of royalty and the responsibilities that the royal family, and particularly the Queen, have, there lies individuals who are empathetic, who have their interests and also have a great responsibility for millions of other people that they discharge. I think the Queen gave a great example of that throughout the whole of her long period as Monarch.
INTERVIEWER
You’re in that very privileged position Sir John of seeing that family Queen, if you like, after those wonderful invitations to Balmoral, but also getting a very deep sense of her constitutional role in those moments of high state. Just offer some reflections on those two, what have we lost, as in the Queen as head of state?
SIR JOHN MAJOR
You’ve lost someone who is remarkably wise and remarkably experienced, there is no-one on this earth who has met so many heads of government and read so many national papers of importance and briefing as Her Majesty the Queen. There is nobody in any country in the world who can remotely match that and that is an extraordinary reservoir of wisdom and experience. The Queen’s historic memory of what has happened in the past stretches back far longer than any civil service adviser you will come across. That is an extremely valuable resource.
I think what people perhaps don’t understand is the extent of empathy that there is, the extent to which the Queen actually understands and will question about the lives of people in different parts of the United Kingdom who may be facing difficulties. She’s extraordinarily well briefed about the way her subjects live in every part of the United Kingdom and that never failed to surprise with the sheer depth of understanding and knowledge that she had. They were very useful meetings for Prime Ministers and any Prime Minister who chose not to listen to the Queen would be a very foolish person indeed.
INTERVIEWER
Did she put you on your mettle Sir John?
SIR JOHN MAJOR
There was nothing confrontational, no, truly they were very friendly meetings. They were formal in the sense that one has to be formal with the Monarch, of course they were. But once you began talking it was in no sense controversial. It was a discussion about events and an extremely well briefed and worthwhile discussion. Everyone felt at ease very soon after they began entering into those weekly discussions.
INTERVIEWER
Where do you think it leaves this country Sir John? Everybody will have a sense of loss or something shifting if they don’t have a particularly close regard for the institution of the monarchy. Everyone will know this is a moment where something has moved, has shifted, a moment of history. Where do you think this leaves the country tonight Sir John?
SIR JOHN MAJOR
This is a moment that children who don’t realise its significance will remember when they’re very elderly people, it is a remarkable moment in history. We’ve never had a monarch serve so long and now we have lost that monarch and we move on to King Charles III. So it leaves this country wondering, because of the political difficulties the country faces as well, because they are part of the loss of the Queen. We face very many difficulties over the next few years and it will be an extraordinarily difficult job for the Government, for ministers and of course for the monarch as well to navigate a way through all of those difficulties.
What is very much in our favour is that King Charles III has known of his responsibilities and his duties all his life and has been very well prepared for them. I think there is undoubtedly going to be a huge feeling of loss, the Queen will leave a very big hole in our lives because of the permanent presence that she has been. But I think she will be satisfied that she has left a legacy of a new King who will understand the problems and behind that King, a son and a grandson who can follow on and keep the monarchy secure. We have always moved on from one Monarchy to the next, it’s a painful transition, particularly after such a lengthy successful Monarchy with a Queen, who astonishingly over 70 years has retained a popularity that no other public figure could possibly match. It is an extraordinary legacy she leaves and I think King Charles will build on that legacy in the years ahead.
INTERVIEWER
And just in conclusion, what’s your personal fondest memory tonight Sir John?
SIR JOHN MAJOR
There are so many memories and there are so many that I’m afraid I can’t tell you. But I can tell you that the informality and sheer friendliness that is shown by the Queen in private moments is quite extraordinary. I remember the barbecues at her home when one was there, I remember the kindness with which if you dined at Windsor matters related to your own constituency or your own lives would be on display there in order to make you feel at ease. I remember the Queen when we were staying at Balmoral crawling on the floor looking at a piece of the floor that had shattered and then refusing to let anyone help with washing up at the end of a barbecue. These are memories that when one looks at the majesty of royalty you really don’t expect and they make a very profound impression when you see them and a memory that is imperishable.
INTERVIEWER
Indeed Sir John and thank you very much for sharing those memories with us this evening and giving us your time on this very sad day. Thank you very much indeed.
SIR JOHN MAJOR
Thank you so much.