The Royals Part 10

Her Majesty eventually relented and included the Radziwills; she even allowed them to be listed in the Court Circular for the occasion as "Prince" and "Princess." That was a great concession because the Queen had never granted Radziwill royal license to use his Polish t.i.tle* in Great Britain. in Great Britain.

"She did not like him," said Evangeline Bruce, the Amba.s.sador's wife. "It had nothing to do with divorce. My husband was divorced, and the Queen loved him. She just didn't like Stash Radziwill... didn't approve of him and always referred to him and his wife as Mr. and Mrs., which irritated them."

"Anyway, the Queen had her revenge," Jackie later told Gore Vidal, her stepbrother once removed. "No Margaret, no Marina, no one except every Commonwealth minister of agriculture that they could find. The Queen was pretty heavy-going. I think she resented me. Philip was nice, but nervous. One felt absolutely no relations.h.i.+p between them."

The Queen's resentment was real. She had read the press coverage of the First Lady's spectacular visit to Paris, where she had been hailed by the French newspapers as "ravissante," "charmante," "belle." "ravissante," "charmante," "belle." Parisians had lined the streets, waving American flags and screaming, "Jacquiii! Jacquiii! Jacquiii!" The Mayor of Paris had given her a $4,000 watch and p.r.o.nounced her visit the most exciting since Queen Elizabeth II had paraded through the city four years earlier. Parisians had lined the streets, waving American flags and screaming, "Jacquiii! Jacquiii! Jacquiii!" The Mayor of Paris had given her a $4,000 watch and p.r.o.nounced her visit the most exciting since Queen Elizabeth II had paraded through the city four years earlier.

"Queen Elizabeth, h.e.l.l," presidential aide Dave Powers told the press. "They couldn't get this kind of turnout with the Second Coming."

Even the President was stunned by the excitement his wife had generated. Greeting reporters at a press conference in France, he introduced himself as "the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris."

By the time the Kennedys arrived in London, Jackie fever had gripped the British, who lined the streets awaiting her arrival the same way they did for the Queen. One newspaper even dubbed the First Lady "Queen of America." Another ran a cartoon showing the Statue of Liberty with Mrs. Kennedy's face; one hand held the torch of freedom, the other clutched a copy of Vogue. Vogue. The The Evening Standard Evening Standard gushed, "Jacqueline Kennedy has given the American people from this day on one thing they had always lacked-majesty." gushed, "Jacqueline Kennedy has given the American people from this day on one thing they had always lacked-majesty."

"The young President with his lovely wife and the whole glamour which surrounds them both caused something of a sensation," recalled Prime Minister Macmillan in his memoirs. "Normally, the visits of foreign statesmen do not arouse much enthusiasm... but the Kennedys were news on every level, political and personal."

The Prime Minister did not record Her Majesty's displeasure at having to entertain them. The Queen, who was forever proclaiming her disdain of glamour, scorned Hollywood and all that the film colony represented. Unlike her mother, her sister, her husband, and her uncle d.i.c.kie, who felt cinema was the highest art form, the Queen was not receptive to Hollywood or its celebrities. In fact, she was so contemptuous of a.s.sociating with motion picture stars that she declined to attend Grace Kelly's 1956 wedding to Prince Rainier of Monaco. "Too many movie stars," she said.

As Queen, she resisted all attempts to dress up her image. When a BBC producer timidly suggested she show more animation during her first televised Christmas address, she snapped, "I'm not an actress."

For the same reason, she refused to wear a fur coat. "Absolutely not," she told footman Ralphe White. "I look too much like a film star in mink."

She acknowledged her dour image, saying that unlike her mother, she was not a show stopper. At a subdued rally, she noted, "If it were Mummy, they would all be cheering."

Her husband shared her resolve that royalty must not descend to the level of movie stars. Like the Queen, he, too, would not sign autographs, and he resented efforts to make him perform. When he made a speech to the British Film Academy, he was heckled.

"Liven it up," shouted actor Tom Bell. "Go on, tell us a funny story."

The Duke of Edinburgh bristled. "If you want a funny story," he said, "I suggest you engage a professional comic."

Neither he nor the Queen recognized then that the British public wanted something more humane and spontaneous from their monarchy than an aloof wave from the royal coach.

"The Queen takes her Commonwealth responsibilities very seriously," explained Prime Minister Macmillan, "and rightly so, for the responsibilities of the U.K. monarchy have so shrunk that if you left it at that, you might as well have a film star. She is impatient of the att.i.tude toward her to treat her as a woman, and a film star or mascot."

With the visit of the Kennedys, she was faced with entertaining the epitome of flashbulb glamour. The Queen had admitted to her sister that she felt more comfortable with President Eisenhower's matronly wife, Mamie, than the mesmerizing Jackie, who was inciting the Queen's normally sober subjects to act like crazed fans. They clogged the streets of London for hours, clamoring for a glimpse of the U.S. President and his First Lady.

In preparation for the Kennedy visit, the Lord Chamberlain, who usually exercises his powers of censors.h.i.+p only on an objectionable word or sentence, had banned a theatrical review that lampooned the President's wife. The show, set to open in a Newcastle theater, was to have had a male chorus singing: Here she comes, sing do re mi Here she comes, sing do re miOh, what a change from old Auntie Mamie.

Then an actress was to appear in a black wig and impersonate Mrs. Kennedy in a satirical skit. Her routine, a string of barbed wisecracks, included the refrain While Jack fumbles with Russia, While Jack fumbles with Russia,I use all my guile,So the press and the publicwon't guess for awhile,He's just Ike dressed up Madison Avenue style.I'm doing my best to be everyone's choice,playing Caroline's mother with Marilyn's voice.

The mention of Marilyn Monroe prompted the censor's scissors. "The review deals unsuitably with a head of state's private life," was the Lord Chamberlain's official explanation, which only added credibility to the rumors of the President's intimate relations.h.i.+p with the Hollywood star.

Despite their differences, the Queen and the First Lady shared a similarity in their husbands, who were charismatic men. Extraordinarily handsome and witty, both were attracted to pretty actresses like fish to s.h.i.+ny metal objects. Neither man was hamstrung by romanticism, and both understood the social necessity of marrying well.

The Queen had not been impressed by the Kennedys' ascent from the Irish bogs to the White House. She still remembered her parents' antipathy toward the President's father, Joseph P. Kennedy. As Amba.s.sador to the Court of St. James's he had opposed U.S. intervention on the side of the British in World War II, so President Franklin Roosevelt recalled him. Understandably the Queen was not enthusiastic about Kennedy's son.

She came around eventually, but she was a late convert. During the 1960 presidential campaign, she privately supported Kennedy's opponent, Vice President Richard M. Nixon. Publicly she remained silent, but her husband, who could and did speak out, made it clear. During a trip to New York City to open a British exhibition, Prince Philip showed a canny understanding of presidential politics. He did not overtly endorse Nixon, but he evoked the "special relations.h.i.+p" between America and England by saying, "The Queen was particularly delighted that our dear friend President Eisenhower agreed to join her as a patron for this exhibition." Then he toured the exhibit with the Vice President and New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and posed for pictures. When photographers begged the Prince for more photographs, he insisted on posing with the Vice President. "We can't take a picture without Mr. Nixon," he said.

When Kennedy won the election, the Queen was smart enough to realize the political importance of good relations with the United States. So she followed her Prime Minister's recommendations to entertain the President and his wife at Buckingham Palace.

Jacqueline Kennedy later told Gore Vidal about the Queen's dinner party, where she sat between Prince Philip and Lord Mountbatten. During the reception before dinner, she talked to the Queen, whom she found chilly and standoffish.

"The Queen was only human once," she recalled. "I was telling her about our state visit to Canada and the rigors of being on view at all hours. I told her I greeted Jack every day with a tearstained face. The Queen looked rather conspiratorial and said, 'One gets crafty after a while and learns how to save oneself.' Then she said, 'You like pictures.' And she marched me down a long gallery, stopping at a Van Dyck to say, 'That's a good horse.' "

The Queen and the First Lady shared more than their mutual love of horses. Both were to become mythic figures and the most celebrated women of their era. Both were monarchs-Elizabeth in fact, Jacqueline in fantasy. The crucial difference between them was politics. The First Lady disliked politics and was totally apolitical; not so the Queen.

"G.o.d knows she's supposed to be above politics," said her biographer Roland Flamini, "but everyone knows the Queen gets politically involved, especially if it concerns the Commonwealth, which is all she really cares about. Her political involvement is never talked about, of course, but everyone knows."

By March 1962 the Queen was embarked on a covert plan to influence the elections in Argentina. She did not realize then that doing her duty meant acquiescing to what her Prime Minister and Archbishop told her to do. Instead she wanted to affect policy. So she dispatched her husband to visit the British communities in eleven South American countries, ostensibly to promote British industry. In Argentina his real mission was to secure the presidency of a friend, Arturo Frondizi, who was in danger of being overthrown by supporters of exiled dictator Juan Peron.

The Queen and Philip had entertained Frondizi at Buckingham Palace earlier in the year, when he confided his fears about allowing Peron supporters to vote in the March elections. "Only my person," he said, "stands between order and chaos."

The Queen agreed and decided to do what she could to prevent a military overthrow that would lead to another dictators.h.i.+p. Although Argentina was outside the Commonwealth, more Britons lived there than anywhere except the United States, and their imports and exports were important to British trade. At least, that was the Queen's rationale for her intervention. Her husband thought it was empire building, which, he said, was basic to the British: "They are always meddling in other people's business.... That's why they're so successful at British charity work overseas. I think it reflects a hangover from the years of responsibility for the direct management of other countries."

Philip's trip to Argentina was the first time in thirty years that a member of the royal family had visited that country, but the Queen felt that her imperial l.u.s.ter would rub off on Frondizi.

In Buenos Aires the Argentine President hosted a state dinner for Philip, who used the occasion to lecture General Rosendo Fraga, Argentina's war secretary.

"Have you been a minister for a long time?" Philip asked.

"For almost one year."

"Tell me something," said Philip. "Do you enjoy it?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Another thing. Have you been in a war?"

"No, we haven't had wars recently in Argentina."

"Well," said Philip, wagging his finger in the General's face, "don't go and start one now."

In a speech, Philip referred to the good relations between Argentina and Great Britain: "The really remarkable part is that we are still on such excellent terms after so many years of intimate a.s.sociation. Perhaps it's a case of getting over the seven-year itch and staying good friends forever." (Diplomatically, he did not mention the epidemic of hoof-and-mouth disease that had spread to England in cans of Argentine corned beef.) The next day young communists pelted Philip with eggs and tomatoes. The police arrested the young people, but Philip interceded. He was in Argentina to help lower political tensions, not stir them up. "Let them go," he said, "but tell them not to do it again. I haven't got an unlimited supply of suits."

This was the first (but not the last) time the Queen veered from her const.i.tutional mandate to remain above politics. As monarch, she was forbidden to take part in the internal affairs of another country. So in Argentina she operated through her husband to influence the outcome of the elections. Unfortunately she miscalculated: Frondizi's opponents won, marched into Buenos Aires with machine guns, and seized control of the country.

Immediately Prince Philip was evacuated from Buenos Aires, and the Macmillan government moved to s.h.i.+eld the Queen from responsibility and criticism. The government concealed her partic.i.p.ation by sealing all doc.u.ments pertaining to the trip. They refused to routinely release the 1962 cabinet papers under the thirty-year rule and stipulated secrecy until the year 2057. Most people a.s.sumed the secrecy was to cover up a s.e.xual scandal involving Philip, who was forty at that time, and Senora Magdalena Nelson de Blaquier, the beautiful fifty-year-old widow who had been his hostess after the military takeover.

"Look into that story," advised Peter Evans, a prominent British journalist, "and you'll probably find a suspicious birth nine months after the Duke's departure."

"One of Philip's three illegitimate children is supposed to be the daughter of an Argentine polo player," said his biographer Tim Heald, "but I don't know the details."

It just so happens that the Duke of Edinburgh was blamed for a love affair he never had and a love child he never fathered.

"I didn't even know Philip until the Amba.s.sador called and asked me to be his hostess," said Mrs. de Blaquier, whose vast estate, La Concepcion, is ninety miles from Buenos Aires. "I was called because my estancia estancia is very secure and large enough to contain three polo fields. The government needed to get Philip out of Buenos Aires because there was so much danger. They couldn't take him any place within the city during that crisis, so he came to my estate in the country. is very secure and large enough to contain three polo fields. The government needed to get Philip out of Buenos Aires because there was so much danger. They couldn't take him any place within the city during that crisis, so he came to my estate in the country.

"He did not speak Spanish and I did not speak good English, so we conversed in French. He speaks the language fluently, like a Frenchman. I had been married thirty years when my husband died in 1960 in an airplane crash. We had nine children. Philip stayed with me and the children at the farm, and the couple who care for us. He was very simpatico- simpatico- very funny, nice, easy. He played cards with the children in the evening, and I organized four polo games for him at the level he could play. He's not a very good player, but he's pa.s.sionate about the game. Pa.s.sionate. He plays with a ten handicap, which is not very good, at least by Argentine standards, and I did not want him to feel slighted; so I found him players who would play his kind of polo, and he was very happy. very funny, nice, easy. He played cards with the children in the evening, and I organized four polo games for him at the level he could play. He's not a very good player, but he's pa.s.sionate about the game. Pa.s.sionate. He plays with a ten handicap, which is not very good, at least by Argentine standards, and I did not want him to feel slighted; so I found him players who would play his kind of polo, and he was very happy.

"During that time, he had three private meetings with Frondizi. Philip stayed with us six days and then was taken to the airport and flown to Britain. He did not allow any photographs during his visit, so I don't have pictures, but he did send me a very beautiful letter thanking me for his stay. I never more see him again for thirty-two years until I go to a polo game in Paris. I sent word to him that I was there with my sons and grandsons. He came over.

" 'Are you the person who was my wonderful hostess?' he asked. I said yes, and he presented me to the Queen. He also introduced me to Prince Charles, who said, 'What did you do to my father? Whenever South America is mentioned, the only place he loves is Argentina because of the wonderful treatment you gave him at La Concepcion.'

"The reason, you see, is because of my polo fields. Philip said you can visit castles in Europe, but you can't play polo there. For polo-real polo-you must go to Argentina. That's why he loves our country so much. And Mexico, too."

In his role as Britain's goodwill amba.s.sador, Philip took every opportunity to return to Argentina to play polo. He also visited Mexico several times, and again people a.s.sumed the magnet was a mistress-the beautiful Merle Oberon, who owned a sumptuous villa in Acapulco, a palace in Cuernavaca, and a huge estate in Mexico City. Married to the multimillionaire industrialist Bruno Pagliai, the former film star was celebrated in magazines as an international hostess who regularly entertained the ex-King of Italy, Greek s.h.i.+powners, and Saudi Arabian princes. Her favorite royal guest was the Duke of Edinburgh.

"The Queen's husband was Merle's boy," said New York society columnist David Patrick Columbia. "He was her big social ticket. I had dinner with her at her Malibu Beach house in California with Luis Estevez, her favorite couturier, and she had framed pictures of really famous people all around. The pride of place was reserved for the personally inscribed eight-by-ten photograph of Philip, which she had in a large silver frame. She was always talking about 'when Philip visited us in Mexico,' and 'when Philip introduced me to the Queen,' and 'Philip this,' and 'Philip that.' I don't know whether they had an affair or not; I doubt it, only because Luis never thought so, and he would have known. In fact, Luis, who's h.o.m.os.e.xual, wondered if Philip wasn't just a little bit gay underneath that terminal macho facade of his. Luis was in Mexico with Merle several times when Philip visited, and contrary to what has been implied by others, Luis said he never saw anything romantic going on between them."

Despite Philip's attractiveness to women, he was also appreciated by men, especially in his younger days. "I think he far prefers the company of men," said a man who knew him in the navy. "There was the all-male Thursday Club before and after his marriage. The four-month cruise with his male equerry in 1956...." Another man, an internationally acclaimed writer and self-described h.o.m.os.e.xual, smiled mischievously when Philip's name was mentioned. The writer told another writer over drinks in the Oak Room Bar of the Plaza Hotel in New York City in 1994 that he remembered Philip well. "Ah, yes," he said wickedly, "I knew Philip when he was the girl."

With Merle Oberon, Philip appeared more beguiled by opulence than romance. Impressed by her extravagance, he enjoyed being cosseted in superlative comfort. She provided cashmere blankets, silk sheets, and a French chef who served superb cuisine with vintage wines. Although Philip was married to the world's richest woman, and accustomed to the highest level of royal service, he did not live sumptuously. His wife was frugal and accustomed to scratchy tweeds and sensible shoes. Her palaces were cold and drafty and required electric s.p.a.ce heaters in every corner. Merle Oberon's estates had heated marble floors, heated towel racks, and gold-leafed beds swagged with silk ta.s.sels. Her house parties were rich, relaxed, and sunny, with sweet bougainvillea breezes.

Lord Mountbatten, who adored glamorous movie stars like Merle Oberon, had introduced his nephew to the legendary beauty when they'd visited Mexico fifteen years earlier. "I was on that trip," recalled John Barratt, who was Mountbatten's private secretary, "and I never saw anything to suggest an affair between the Duke of Edinburgh and Merle Oberon. Her husband was there, and he was our host."

The editor and writer Michael Korda disagrees. "Oh, c'mon," he said. "Everyone knows Philip had an affair with Merle. My uncle [film director Alexander Korda] was married to her from 1939 to 1945.... No, I wasn't around then, and no, I never saw them together, but that's what I've always been told. Besides, if they didn't have an affair, they should have!"

Jody Jacobs, formerly a reporter for Women's Wear Daily Women's Wear Daily and society editor of the and society editor of the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, attended one of Merle Oberon's dinner parties in honor of Prince Philip. "It was during the [1968] Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and Merle, who was a stickler for royal protocol, insisted that everyone arrive before the Duke of Edinburgh and that the women wear long dresses. She invited Princess Lalla Nezha of Morocco and jet-setters like Cristina Ford, who was married to Henry Ford at the time, although he was not with her that evening; one or two Hollywood stars; and a few Mexican socialites whom Merle considered rich or aristocratic enough to be included. After dinner, when most of the other guests had left, I was part of a little group standing with the Prince near some French doors leading to the terrace and pool. There were two other women, including Cristina Ford, who was tan and tawny. This was the same Cristina Ford whose mad dancing at a White House dinner for Princess Margaret had made international news: Cristina, who was doing the twist, twisted herself right out of her white strapless gown. The top of her dress literally fell down. Now she was flirting madly with Prince Philip. They had danced a few times that evening. Suddenly she looked up at him and said, 'Why don't we go to the pool and go swimming? We (meaning the women) could leave our bras and little panties on.' attended one of Merle Oberon's dinner parties in honor of Prince Philip. "It was during the [1968] Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and Merle, who was a stickler for royal protocol, insisted that everyone arrive before the Duke of Edinburgh and that the women wear long dresses. She invited Princess Lalla Nezha of Morocco and jet-setters like Cristina Ford, who was married to Henry Ford at the time, although he was not with her that evening; one or two Hollywood stars; and a few Mexican socialites whom Merle considered rich or aristocratic enough to be included. After dinner, when most of the other guests had left, I was part of a little group standing with the Prince near some French doors leading to the terrace and pool. There were two other women, including Cristina Ford, who was tan and tawny. This was the same Cristina Ford whose mad dancing at a White House dinner for Princess Margaret had made international news: Cristina, who was doing the twist, twisted herself right out of her white strapless gown. The top of her dress literally fell down. Now she was flirting madly with Prince Philip. They had danced a few times that evening. Suddenly she looked up at him and said, 'Why don't we go to the pool and go swimming? We (meaning the women) could leave our bras and little panties on.'

"Prince Philip blanched. 'Uh, uh,' he said. 'I think it's time for me to leave.' He smiled at Cristina and the rest of us. He was quickly surrounded by his group, which appeared from nowhere; he said good-bye to Merle and took off. I think in that setting, with a reporter listening in, he was being very discreet. Or maybe he just wasn't attracted to Cristina."

The Duke of Edinburgh was far too discreet to indulge in anything beyond harmless flirting in public. "Arrangements were made privately," said Regine Traulsen, a Moroccan woman now married and living with her husband in New York. "I was living in London in the late '60s and going to parties with a painter, Felix Topolski, who had done a portrait of Prince Philip and become good friends with him. I told Felix I thought Philip was quite handsome and I'd like to meet him.

"A few weeks later, Felix said, 'I made a date for you to meet Philip. The Queen will be busy with the regatta. He has a flat on top of the hill and you'll meet him there at 10:30 in the evening.'

" 'I'm not a one-night stand, Felix,' I told him.

" 'But you said you fancied him.'

" 'Oh, I do but not to sleep with....' Felix was taken aback and the date with the Duke of Edinburgh was canceled. I'm sure I wasn't the only woman propositioned in this way."

Philip was always careful and, according to one recollection, frequently colorful. "Many years ago," said Elke Gzndlowski in 1997, "I worked in a country house between Isha and Oxford where the Duke of Edinburgh visited with his private secretary, Sir Rupert Nevill.... I was serving the table when Prince Philip was talking. He said he used red condoms for happy s.e.x and black condoms for required s.e.x."

Philip certainly was not going to court criticism that might embarra.s.s the Crown. The Profumo affair had already subjected the country to enough embarra.s.sment. At the height of the Cold War, Britain's War Minister, John Profumo, shared a prost.i.tute, Christine Keeler, with Soviet naval attache Eugene Ivanov, and the scandal nearly toppled the government. The War Minister was forced to resign after he lied in a personal statement to the House of Commons. Years later the Queen honored him with a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire). At the time, the s.e.x scandal made the British the b.u.t.t of international jokes, and the disgrace lasted for years, tarnis.h.i.+ng the country's prestige.

Even before the scandal, the country seemed to be stumbling under the burden pa.s.sed down from two world wars. "Britain still has shameful slums, obsolete housing, derelict dockyards," wrote John Gunther in Look Look magazine. "The rank and file of citizens seem apathetic about the future, despondent or confused." magazine. "The rank and file of citizens seem apathetic about the future, despondent or confused."

Some citizens were angry. "d.a.m.n you, England," wrote John Osborne, the young playwright who transformed British theater with his blistering social drama. "In sincere and utter hatred... you're rotting now, and quite soon you'll disappear... untouchable, unteachable, impregnable."

Former U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson saw a country stripped of glory and floundering with no direction. "Great Britain has lost an empire," he said, "and has not yet found a role."

Even the weather aggravated the country's misery. The winters in England during the early sixties were so severe that power failed and people s.h.i.+vered. Then the impossible happened: the Queen was booed. She and her husband were attending a theatrical performance with King Paul and Queen Frederika of Greece when a group of Greek protesters in London yelled and hissed at her for a.s.sociating with fascists.

Queen Elizabeth appeared not to notice. Having never encountered such criticism, she did not comprehend that the screaming was directed at her. She was equally unconcerned by the death threats she received when the Palace announced her plans to tour Canada in 1964.

"The Queen must not come," warned the Toronto Telegram. Toronto Telegram.

"An innocent life is at stake," said the Times Times of London of London.

The Daily Mirror Daily Mirror raised the specter of "a second Dallas" if the Queen ventured into Canada, where the French minority in Quebec railed against the English majority in Ottawa. raised the specter of "a second Dallas" if the Queen ventured into Canada, where the French minority in Quebec railed against the English majority in Ottawa.

But she refused to cancel her trip. Canada was part of her realm and the largest member of the Commonwealth. "I am not worried about the visit," the Queen said, "and we are quite relaxed."

She had spent weeks preparing for the tour, including days of wardrobe fittings with her favorite dressmaker, Hardy Amies. For this trip she had allowed her hatmaker, Frederick Fox, to make a dress. "Freddie was thrilled," recalled a friend. "He spends months designing the gown, makes it, and goes to the Palace for a fitting. Blue sort of sheath with silver bugle beads on the long sleeves. The Queen loves it. He does the fitting; she looks great. Then she presses a b.u.t.ton. An old crone comes crawling in, hauling a box the size of Madagascar. The Queen opens it and removes an amethyst brooch as big as a plate. She lugs out diamonds the size of soup bowls and plops them all on her bosom. The style and creation of the dress is lost under the gargantuan crown jewels. Freddie rips everything off: the bows, the bugle beads, the whole lot. The Queen senses his distress. She says, 'But that's what they want to see.' " Someone later asked her an abstract question: "What do you think of taste?" The Queen said, "I don't think it helps."

On that trip to Canada, Her Majesty traveled to Quebec with her husband and grudgingly accepted the protection of bulletproof limousines and riot-control policemen. Philip chafed at so much security and, as always, spoke out. The Foreign Office patiently explained the political tensions building among French Canadians and noted that violence had become a terrible reality since the Kennedy a.s.sa.s.sination a few months before.

"Kennedy wouldn't have been shot," snapped Philip, "if it hadn't been for all the b.l.o.o.d.y security surrounding him."

Throughout Canada the Queen was trailed by armed guards and squad cars. She attended functions that required invitations and made her two speeches from secure television studios. Sailing up the St. Lawrence River aboard her royal yacht, frogmen checked the hull for explosives at every stop.

"Fancy having to put up with this sort of thing," said her dresser, BoBo MacDonald.

"Don't worry about me," said the Queen. "n.o.body's going to hurt me. I'm as safe as houses."

She spoke English in Ottawa and French in Quebec, urging fraternity on both feuding factions. She praised Canada as "one of the older and most stable nations of the world." Still, she was hissed and booed, but despite the insults and screams, she never flinched.

After she left, Canadian television presented an hour-long show about her visit. "The question remains," concluded the commentator, "was it worth it? For all that was accomplished-the opening of a building here and making a speech there-was it worth the strife, the harsh words, oppressive security measures? We believe it was not. Good night."

In the past, the magnificent voice of Winston Churchill would have trumpeted the virtues of the British monarchy and drowned out such criticism. But that voice was gone. The Queen's first and favorite* Prime Minister had fallen into a coma in January 1965 and died nine days later. His death marked the end of an era for England and left the monarchy without its staunchest defender. Prime Minister had fallen into a coma in January 1965 and died nine days later. His death marked the end of an era for England and left the monarchy without its staunchest defender.

"The grandeur of Great Britain died tonight," the BBC reported on January 24, 1965. "The power and glory are gone."

The Queen wept privately. Then she composed herself and gave her revered mentor the grandest royal funeral ever accorded a commoner. Years before, Churchill had issued instructions for his burial: "I want lots of soldiers and bands." His sovereign gave him all of that and more.

Attuned to Churchill's sense of history and theater, she instructed the Earl Marshal, who is also the Duke of Norfolk and in charge of royal pageants, to spare no expense. England was saying good-bye to its savior, and the Queen knew that the world would be watching this historic farewell on television. She wanted the spectacle to be as magnificent as the man himself.

She ordered that his body lie in state for three days and nights in Westminster Hall so that the million men, women, and children who had lined the streets to keep a vigil for him during his coma could pay their final respects. The floor of the great hall was lined in felt to m.u.f.fle the sound of footsteps. Four guardsmen stood by the casket with four candles, providing the only light in the darkness. The Queen and her husband joined the long line of mourners filing past the catafalque, and for the first time in her reign, Her Majesty was not the center of attention. She was simply part of a tide of people. As Time Time magazine observed, "Before the casket of Winston Churchill, all mourners were equal." magazine observed, "Before the casket of Winston Churchill, all mourners were equal."

On the cold gray day of the funeral, the Queen lent her carriage full of blankets and hot-water bottles to Lady Churchill and her two daughters. Her Majesty then paid special homage to her first Garter Knight by arriving in St. Paul's before his coffin and his official mourners, and not last, as is her due as Queen.

After the majestic funeral, the royal family joined the dignitaries from 110 nations* on the steps of the cathedral as Sir Winston's coffin was returned to the gun carriage for the final ride to his burial place in the little country churchyard of Bladon in Oxfords.h.i.+re. The Queen's wreath was placed on the gravesite with a card: "From the nation and the Commonwealth in grateful remembrance-Elizabeth R." The great bells of St. Paul's pealed and the cannons reverberated as ninety salutes were fired-one for every year of Churchill's remarkable life. Dressed in his naval uniform, the Duke of Edinburgh, who had been a young lieutenant during World War II, stepped forward to give the old warrior a last salute. on the steps of the cathedral as Sir Winston's coffin was returned to the gun carriage for the final ride to his burial place in the little country churchyard of Bladon in Oxfords.h.i.+re. The Queen's wreath was placed on the gravesite with a card: "From the nation and the Commonwealth in grateful remembrance-Elizabeth R." The great bells of St. Paul's pealed and the cannons reverberated as ninety salutes were fired-one for every year of Churchill's remarkable life. Dressed in his naval uniform, the Duke of Edinburgh, who had been a young lieutenant during World War II, stepped forward to give the old warrior a last salute.

"There can be no leavetaking between Churchill and the people he served and saved," said Lady Asquith in the House of Lords. "Many of us today may be feeling that by his going the scale of things has dwindled, our stature is diminished, that glory has departed from us.... Then I remember the words of his victory broadcast-when he urged us not to fall back into the rut of inertia, confusion, and 'the craven fear of being great.' And I knew that the resolve to keep unbroken the pattern of greatness which he had impressed upon the spirit of the nation is the tribute he would ask from us today."

Despite her ringing words, Britain had lost her greatness. The country was struggling to keep her footing in a cold war with a former ally, Moscow, while forced to make friends with a former enemy, Bonn. Four months after burying Winston Churchill, who had railed against "the hideous onslaught of the n.a.z.i war machine with its clanking, heel-clicking, dandified Prussian officers," the Queen visited West Germany. It was her first trip to the country that had battered England in two world wars. Her husband had gone there many times before to see his sisters and his brothers-in-law, but because of the bitter anti-German sentiments in England, his trips had not been publicized. The Queen had wanted to accompany him, but each time her request had been denied by the conservative Tory government, which knew that the public would never accept a royal visit so soon after the war. Now under a Labor Prime Minister, who wanted to end the old hostilities, the Queen was asked to make the trip in May 1965, the first time a British sovereign had visited Germany since 1913, when her grandfather, King George V, went to see his relatives.

At the time of Churchill's death, the German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau Frankfurter Rundschau recalled the n.a.z.i invective against the British Prime Minister. "Nothing remains of the n.a.z.i tirades," said the newspaper. "Those who authorized them have not only disappeared, but they have been proved wrong." recalled the n.a.z.i invective against the British Prime Minister. "Nothing remains of the n.a.z.i tirades," said the newspaper. "Those who authorized them have not only disappeared, but they have been proved wrong."

The newspaper repeatedly warned Germans against screaming out "Sieg heil!" "Sieg heil!" when the Queen inspected the soldiers of the Bundeswehr and the airmen of the Luftwaffe. Instead they were told to wave the paper Union Jacks that would be distributed and to call out her name. when the Queen inspected the soldiers of the Bundeswehr and the airmen of the Luftwaffe. Instead they were told to wave the paper Union Jacks that would be distributed and to call out her name.

Newspapers and magazines stressed the theme of reconciliation by publis.h.i.+ng the Windsor family tree with its German roots, including the names of Elizabeth and Philip's four hundred royal relatives still living in Germany: the princely Hanovers, Hohenzollerns, Brunswicks, and Glucksburgs dusted off their old decorations in antic.i.p.ation of the royal visit.

"If we can't have our own Bavarian monarch back," said a city official in Munich, "at least we can borrow someone else's for a short while."

"After all," said his aide, "they are almost German, aren't they?"

For Germans, the Queen's presence meant that England had finally forgiven them. Her words underscored her healing mission, despite the grimace she made when she first saw the ugly barbed-wire spikes on the Berlin Wall. "The tragic period is over," she said, her English being translated to German. "If we wish to preserve the best of our great heritage, we must make common cause.... In the last twenty years, the problems facing our two peoples have brought us closer together again. It is now our task to defend civilization in freedom and peace together."

The crowds shouted, "Eee-liz-a-bet, Eee-liz-a-bet!" but the Queen did not smile or wave. In fact, she recoiled from the enthusiastic response. "I think she thought this was a bit too much of a good thing," said British Foreign Secretary Michael Stewart, "too reminiscent of ritual n.a.z.i shouting. That was the only time I saw her perhaps at all put out."