Tag: HM King Charles III

Sir John Major’s interview with ITN on 8 September 2022.

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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.

Sir John Major’s interview with Norah O’Donnell, broadcast on CBS Evening News on 8 September 2022.

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INTERVIEWER’S INTRODUCTION

Sir John Major was one of the first to pay tribute to the Queen today, saying that in her public duty she was selfless and wise with a wonderful generosity of spirit. That is how she lived and how she led. The former Prime Minister told us those traits were especially apparent during difficult times.

SIR JOHN MAJOR

One of the many gifts the Queen has is that when she faces great difficulty, she has the capacity to be a stoic. She puts her head down, she ploughs on and she knows whatever the problems are she will come through the other end of that.

INTERVIEWER

Where did she get that resilience?

SIR JOHN MAJOR

I think it is part of the training for Monarchy. Self evidently you need to be very selfless, you need to have a great understanding of the way your nation works and the way people think and act in order to be a successful Monarchy. You need a great capacity to discharge your obligations and your duty. The Queen had a remarkable sense of duty all her life. As a young lady she pledged in a radio broadcast she made from South Africa when she was very young to pledge the whole of her life to the service of our nation.

INTERVIEWER

You describe her as a stoic, certainly publicly, but personally, was she emotional? Was she warm? Was she funny?

SIR JOHN MAJOR

Oh, gosh, she was very funny, yes. The conversations with her weren’t starchy, dull or boring. They were very lively, you were talking to someone with a lively intellect. No, no, she was fun to be with.

INTERVIEWER

And what do you think was the essence of her leadership style?

SIR JOHN MAJOR

The great thing the Queen left our country with was her example. It is difficult to find a public figure so dedicated to her duty and her responsibilities and her obligations as the Queen has been from her early 20s when she became Monarch to the age of 96. That will pass on to our new King and will pass on to our new Prince of Wales as well.

Sir John Major’s interview with Dermot Murnaghan, broadcast on Sky News on 8 September 2022.

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INTERVIEWER

I’m joined now by the former Prime Minister Sir John Major, who was of course, if I’m correct, Her Majesty the Queen’s ninth Prime Minister. Sir John, your reflections on this day?

SIR JOHN MAJOR

I think it’s a very sad day. We all realised that one day it would come and we all hoped that it would be far distant rather than near to us. So I think it is an extremely sad day and I think there will be many tears shed at the loss of Her Majesty.

INTERVIEWER

We know you can’t share with us what passed between you in terms of the conversations, the regular conversations, you had with Her Majesty in those meetings as Prime Minister, but we’ve been told it was her depth of knowledge and her empathy and her understanding that partly marked her out.

SIR JOHN MAJOR

Well, it certainly did. But not only that, there was a great deal of wisdom and knowledge as well. There were several things that were very striking when you first entered into those meetings with Her Majesty. Firstly, they were very informal, the only two people in the room were Her Majesty the Queen and yourself, and a supporting galaxy of corgis who usually happened to be there, but absolutely no one else and it was remarkably informal. One sat there and we talked and there was nothing off the agenda.

Everything was there that might be raised either by Her Majesty or by the Prime Minister. One reported what was going on, what was anticipated to happen in the future, what your thoughts were about what was happening and how you felt you were going to handle it. The Queen would ask questions, she would comment and she would refer to occasions in the past where she had seen similar events. That was extraordinarily useful, her historic memory for what had happened under past Prime Ministers was extraordinary and a far longer historic memory than your civil service advisers. So that was often extremely helpful.

When it came to foreign affairs, there was almost no part of the world the Queen hadn’t visited. In many cases she would remember not just the meeting she might have had with the current heads of government, but in many countries their forebears had also been heads of government and the Queen had known them as well.

So there was a great wealth of knowledge that was waiting to be tapped and it just emerged during the conversations. They were extraordinarily useful. Of the many meetings you had in the week as Prime Minister, the hour plus that you usually spent with the Queen was among the most valuable.

INTERVIEWER

Sir John, was that quite daunting? One can imagine the initial phases perhaps of your Premiership, with that depth of knowledge even just in our own country when she could quote meetings with titans like Churchill, Macmillan and on the Presidential side, the Eisenhowers, the Kennedys.

SIR JOHN MAJOR

It could easily have been made daunting, but it wasn’t because of the manner in which the Queen approached it. It was very informal, it was very friendly, it wasn’t confrontational, it became very comfortable. Of course, you were always conscious you were speaking to the Monarch and a certain degree of total respect was due, but the meetings themselves were entirely informal. It might have been as though one was sitting at a table with you discussing current political events in a casual and relaxed fashion. Of course one discussed not only the politics of things, not only the government aspect, but the Queen would always have been interested in talking about what its impact was going to be on people in her nation. How would things impact upon someone who lived in Wigan, or Sale or wherever it may be, anywhere across the United Kingdom? The personal aspect, the personal impact of policy upon people was always something that was in her mind and that was amazingly refreshing. At first you were quite astonished at the extent and depth of understanding that the Monarch had about the lives that perfectly everyday people lived.

INTERVIEWER

And they were turbulent times 30 years ago. Let’s talk about the nation, on the political side, of course we had our economic troubles, perhaps some parallels with where we are now in 2022. And of course, let’s not forget there was a violent conflict taking place within the United Kingdom, that peace process that you started to negotiate, and Her Majesty the Queen, a kind of symbol of stability amongst all that.

SIR JOHN MAJOR

Her Majesty was a unifier. She was extraordinarily interested in the peace process and how the peace process was developing and how far we thought it would go and who we could bring in to help. Who were the people who were actually standing in the way, what were the problems that existed? How did we think we could overcome it? Did we think a solution was possible? How long would it take? All those were the sort of matters that we would have discussed, but her interest in ending the divisions, indeed the hatreds and the problems that existed in Northern Ireland, her interest in seeing that solved was remarkable.

One of the regrets I think I have in my public life was that we weren’t able to finish that, it was very ably finished by my successor, Tony Blair and his advisers afterwards, and I warmly commend them for having done that and brought about the final agreement. I think if I have a regret, it’s that I didn’t finish it and if I had a second regret, it would be that when the Queen made her remarkable visit to Ireland a few years afterwards, that I was out of government and no longer there, but her interest in that was total.

INTERVIEWER

Just while we’re on that Sir John, you mentioned that visit to Northern Ireland, that remarkable scene, the symbol of forgiveness when she shook Martin McGuinness’s hand, the former head of the IRA, the IRA that murdered Dickie Mountbatten.

SIR JOHN MAJOR

It was a remarkable moment of stateswomanship and it took a remarkable woman to do it, but it was necessary, she knew it would help and she was prepared to do it. I have absolutely no doubt that she was entirely happy to make that visit and to make the gestures that were necessary to seal the work that was coming towards fruition. And it was very valuable. She was, as I said, a unifier. That was her natural instinct, her instinct was not to create division but to bring people together. And whether that was bringing people together within Northern Ireland, or bringing the component parts of the United Kingdom together when they had disputes, her principle was the same, unity is far better than division.

INTERVIEWER

Sir John, then those difficult years for the Monarchy itself, from the Annus horribilis we are referring to in her Christmas address, the destruction of Windsor Castle, the separation and divorce of Charles and Diana and then ultimately, the sad passing of the Princess of Wales, such difficult times.

SIR JOHN MAJOR

They were very difficult times in the 90s, the Annus horribilis and the fire at Windsor in 1992 I remember very plainly indeed. The Queen in times of difficulties is stoic, she doesn’t panic, she doesn’t go into her shell. She puts her head down, she realises there are difficult things you have to live through. You put your head down, you plough ahead and eventually you will come out the other side. It’s a great gift that stoicism and it is a gift that she learned and she understands that you will come out of it. Horrible things have happened to people before and they do survive them. They do come out the other side and that was something she fully understood. Whatever happened, the daffodils will come up next spring and so let us get on with life. It was a very profound way to approach many of these problems.

INTERVIEWER

What a great way to end our conversation. What a memory to take with us. Sir John, thank you so much for sharing that with us.

SIR JOHN MAJOR

It was a very great pleasure.

Sir John Major’s interview with BBC News on 8 September 2022.

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INTERVIEWER

We’re now joined by the former Conservative Prime Minister, Sir John Major. It’s very good of you to join us here on BBC News at this moment in time. Fears of course had been mounting throughout the day on the news from the Queen’s medical team at Balmoral, what are your thoughts now on the passing of Her Majesty?

SIR JOHN MAJOR

Well, it is heartbreaking news. It’s news that one day we knew we would have, but we always hoped it would be delayed and would be some way away. It’s very hard to take it in, that radiant smile which lights up a room and lights up a country is just not going to be there for us anymore, very hard to imagine. Most of the people in this country can remember nothing other than the Queen as Monarch. Many of those who are elderly remember, faintly, the former King, but this is an enormous change for this country. It’s a very big moment in history, a key pivotal moment and I think there will be many tears shed tonight and over the next few days for Her Majesty the Queen.

INTERVIEWER

I wondered, Sir John, given your interactions with the Queen, obviously as Prime Minister, what your personal recollections are of meeting her?

SIR JOHN MAJOR

There are so many recollections and in many ways so different from what people might imagine the private meetings that the Prime Minister has with a Queen, which perhaps scheduled for 45 minutes in my experience never lasted remotely under an hour and often some way beyond it. They weren’t entirely serious matters just discussing the matters of the nation, there was a great deal of amusement in them, there was a great deal of humour and then there was a bit of gossip in there.

Apart from that, the serious matters that were discussed, I think people would have been extraordinarily surprised if they realised the depth of information the Queen had about the lives of people in every conceivable part of the United Kingdom. She was always extraordinarily well briefed, and on foreign affairs of course, she would often say if there was a difficulty of a foreign leader, ‘well, I met him many years ago’ or even ‘I knew his father’, there was always a wise word to be had. Those meetings with the Queen are one of the better parts of a Prime Minister’s week.

INTERVIEWER

I mean that stability, that continuity that she brought, not just to the monarchy I suppose, but to all of our lives on being on the throne over such a long period. What are your thoughts on that now that she’s passed?

SIR JOHN MAJOR

The continuity was very important, but I think there were other things as well, the example, the duty, the selflessness, the way in which other people were put first, the way in which she handled crises with great stoicism when they occurred, as they occurred a number of times during her reign. They were all examples to people about how to behave in their own lives and examples for our country. What I found going around the world is that the Queen was the face of the United Kingdom. When people around the world spoke of the Queen they actually meant our queen. That was the status she had in every part of the world, it was truly remarkable.

INTERVIEWER

Sir John, you talked about the stoicism she showed in times of crisis. We think back of course to 1992 and her Annus horribilis speech, the fire at Windsor Castle as well. Her fortitude in dealing with those issues and those problems was something that the British people came to admire greatly in her, along with that sense of duty.

SIR JOHN MAJOR

I think they were right to admire it. I sat one along from her when she made the Annus horribilis speech in 1992. A great deal had gone wrong and there was, as you say, that dreadful fire in Windsor Castle which many people didn’t receive with the sympathy perhaps they should have done. But the Queen understood that, she put her head down and she quietly, silently, uncomplainingly got on with her job. There are very few people who would have handled it with the aplomb that she did. I think that was in part because of her experience and in part because of her natural nature. She knew what one had to do to be a Monarch, she knew when to keep out of controversy, she knew when to advise in private, she was almost faultless in the way in which she conducted the monarchy. She leaves behind the monarchy in very good shape and a son who’s been brought up to follow in precisely the same footsteps, King Charles III.

INTERVIEWER

I wondered too Sir John about the affection with which she was held right around the world, particularly within the Commonwealth. You’ve travelled and you’ve seen the great affection that she had and there will be millions across the globe now who will be particularly sad today?

SIR JOHN MAJOR

I have seen that affection in close quarters. Twelve years ago I was invited by the Queen to set up and chair the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee trust, a charity to commemorate her 60 years on the throne. We raised money from across the Commonwealth and I asked the Queen what she wished us to do with the money that we had raised in her name. She gave us two tasks, the first was to cure avoidable blindness across the whole of the Commonwealth, and the second was to seek out young Commonwealth leaders in every nation of the Commonwealth, 54 countries at the time, and help prepare them for leadership roles in later life. It was entirely a selfless request on her behalf, and entirely typical of her.

INTERVIEWER

Remarkable. Sir John Major, thank you very much indeed for giving us your reflections on Queen Elizabeth II who passed away today. Thank you so much.