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warmth of Elizabeth’s reception by President Mandela on the 1995 state visit to South
Africa after its readmission to the Commonwealth was an eloquent testimony to how he
viewed her contribution to the ending of apartheid.
As far as her private, as opposed to her public, social life is concerned, Elizabeth’s
evenings are – surprisingly – often unoccupied. Paradoxically, since she is just about the
most famous woman in the world, she will be free to come to dinner more often than
you would realize – provided, that is, that you are one of the people she feels at home
with and can count upon to invite a small number of guests she would like to see. Philip
has far more official evening engagements than she has and she is, therefore, often
alone. That does not mean that she is necessarily lonely. She will have seen numbers of
people in their official capacity during the day. A quiet evening with the television
news, her racing/breeding books and piles of photographs to be stuck into her
photograph albums and captioned provide the necessary relaxation. She often talks on
the telephone to her mother and sister – ‘us three’ remain close, closer indeed than she is
to her children, who lead their own lives.
The most powerful agent for change within both Buckingham Palace and St James’s
Palace has been the Diana factor, dismissed during her lifetime but recognized, however
reluctantly, since her death. Just as the Russian Revolution prompted a radical change
of attitude in George V and his advisers, and the jolt administered by the abdication of
Edward VIII inspired a popularity initiative by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth,
public reaction to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, has pushed Elizabeth and her
advisers into a more acute understanding that the monarchy must move closer to the
people. When Elizabeth makes a visit, her engagements are now targeted towards
contact with the public. At universities, rather than just lunching with the academics, she
will take in students’ bedsits; on a visit to a Glasgow estate, which would previously
have been confined to a formal date at a community centre, she was photographed
having tea with a tenant in her council flat. She has been to a pub – indeed, she has
been photographed behind the bar of that British soap opera institution, the Eastenders
Queen Vic. Her official programmes have been adjusted for her to have popular contact
beyond the municipal officials in the towns and the Lord Lieutenants in the shires.
Diana’s disappearance has enabled the Prince of Wales to re-establish his position
with the public both as heir to the throne and as loving father to the two princes. A
determined public-relations campaign has skilfully promoted his ‘caring’ image and
accustomed the public to the continuing presence of Camilla Parker Bowles at his side.
Elizabeth has acknowledged that presence by appearing at informal functions when
Camilla has also been there, but her private feelings about the situation can only be
guessed at and the Camilla question remains an imponderable on the royal horizon.
Sadly, the present situation and the zealous efforts of the Prince’s aides to promote him
as the hope for the future, sometimes at the expense of other members of his family,
have widened the rift between Buckingham Palace and St James’s, a rift which may be
closed by the future appointment of Sir Michael Peat as the Prince’s Principal Private
Secretary later this year. On a more significant note, Elizabeth can take comfort from