Boris Johnson has heralded his relationship with the late Queen, saying his weekly meetings with Her Majesty were a form of “therapy”.
Prime ministers hold a weekly audience with the monarch usually every Wednesday, during parliamentary time at Buckingham Palace.
Johnson was no different, telling GB News it was one of the “joys of the job” when he was in Number 10.
“I used to see the Queen every week”, he said.
Boris Johnson says his regular meets with the Queen were one of the best parts of his job
GB NEWS
“That was one of the great, great joys of the job. It was a kind of free psychotherapy, and there was no confession so appalling.
“She’d heard it all before.”
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Asked by Camilla Tominey whether Queen Elizabeth II had her “work cut out” with him relative to other prime ministers, he said: “I don’t know, she was always very supportive.
“She was full of really good advice. I’d sort of have a fair idea of what she thought about lots of things but she wouldn’t really reveal her hand much, she would simply nudge you.”
Johnson refused to divulge on what he felt the Queen’s political beliefs were, as that “wouldn’t be right”.
The ex-PM, who was ousted in 2022 after a spate of resignations by senior Tory figures, was full of praise for the late monarch as he discussed her sense of duty.
Boris Johnson and Queen Elizabeth greeting each other in 2016PA“Her private secretary, Edward Young, who was a very, very nice and good man, I think it was he who said that she had been unwell for a long time”, he said.
“But she was absolutely determined to fulfil her constitutional duty, which was to oversee the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next.
“She did that. She also had a record-breaking tally of prime ministers who served under her. She probably wanted one more.”
The prime minister’s involvement with the Royal Family did not stop with the Queen, as he spoke on GB News about how he made a failed attempt to convince Prince Harry to remain in Britain.
He told Camilla that he “failed to stop Megxit, but I did deliver Brexit”.
The ex-PM detailed a one-to-one meeting with the duke in 2020, soon after he had laid bare his intention to step back from frontline royal duties.