The late Queen’s political leanings and Queen Camilla’s experience of fighting off a sexual assault on a train as a teenager are among several eye-opening claims made in a new royal book.
Penned by former Times royal correspondent Valentine Low, Power And The Palace aims to expose the behind-closed-doors relationship between the monarchy and the government through interviews with a series of senior politicians, civil servants, and royal aides.
Released on 11 September, the book is already making headlines after a number of claims have emerged through excerpts printed in The Times ahead of publication.
1. The Queen ‘fought off sexual assault’ on train
Queen Camilla fought off a sexual assault by a stranger on a train when she was a schoolgirl, according to Low’s new book.
Disclosed in a conversation with Boris Johnson, the Queen told of how she took off her shoe and “whacked him in the nuts” with her heel before reporting the incident to the police when she arrived.
Mr Johnson’s former communications director Guto Harri told Mr Low: “She was on a train going to Paddington — she was about 16, 17 — and some guy was moving his hand further and further…”
Mr Harri said after Mr Johnson asked what she did next, Camilla had replied: “I did what my mother taught me to. I took off my shoe and whacked him in the nuts with the heel.
“She was self-possessed enough when they arrived at Paddington to jump off the train, find a guy in uniform and say, ‘That man just attacked me’, and he was arrested.”
2. Queen Elizabeth II was a Remainer
One of the biggest claims to emerge from Mr Low’s new book is her account of Queen Elizabeth II opposed Brexit.
In the book, Mr Low includes details of a conversation between the late Queen and a minister during which she reportedly said: “We shouldn’t leave the EU,” before adding: “It’s better to stick with the devil you know.”
It’s a weighty claim to make due to the monarch’s duty to stay politically neutral at all times, and also contradicts previous reports of her attitude towards Europe.
In 2016, The Sun splashed the headline “The Queen backs Brexit,” reporting that in 2011 she allegedly told then-deputy prime minister Nick Clegg: “I don’t understand Europe.” Press watchdog IPSO later ruled the headline as “significantly misleading” after the Queen complained.
Writing in Power and The Palace, Mr Low said: “On a fundamental level, she saw the EU as part of the post-war settlement, marking an era of co-operation after two world wars.
“If the Queen had had a vote, she would have voted Remain.”
3. Queen Elizabeth II did not support King Charles’s campaigning
Claims in the book suggest Queen Elizabeth II did not support her son’s campaigning approach to issues such as climate change, including his writing letters to ministers.
Mr Low quotes a palace source who claims her view of the letters was: “Just don’t do it. As soon as you engage in politics, you have an opinion and you pick a side – you cause a part of the population who disagree to take a partial view of you.
“The view of those who want to protect the monarchy was that it had to be even more elevated from the politics. Anything that dragged her into the mud was an unhelpful development.”
4. Queen Elizabeth II was ‘outspoken’ among ministers
It is well known that the monarch is duty-bound to be politically neutral. But in the book, sources told Mr Low the late Queen was more politically outspoken behind closed doors than would be expected.
George Osborne told Mr Low: “I was constantly astonished by how candid she was and that none of this ever came out.
“She’d be very forthright in telling you what she thought of individuals, including members of her own family, and what she thought about things going on in the country.”
5. Boris Johnson tried to visit Queen Elizabeth II while he had Covid
Then-prime minister Boris Johnson reportedly tried to meet with Queen Elizabeth II while he was in the early stages of infection with Covid, according to the book.
A previous account of the incident told by Mr Johnson’s adviser Dominic Cummings reported he had told the PM the move was “insane”.
But a source told Mr Low that Mr Cummings’s exact words were: “You will f***ing kill the Queen. Are you f***ing mad?”
Buckingham Palace have declined to comment.
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