What really happened when Boris Johnson asked the Queen to suspend Parliament
Johnson's request left the Palace “deeply uneasy,” especially as it was made during the Queen’s summer holiday
New revelations have surfaced about Queen Elizabeth II’s private reaction to Boris Johnson’s controversial Brexit strategy.
In 2019, Johnson asked the late monarch to prorogue Parliament for five weeks in order to push through his Brexit plans, a move later ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court.
According to royal author Valentine Low in Power and the Palace, the request left the Palace “deeply uneasy,” especially as it was made during the Queen’s summer holiday at Balmoral.
Jacob Rees-Mogg was dispatched to Scotland to formally present the plan, placing the monarch in an awkward constitutional position.
A royal insider said the Queen “took it all in her stride,” though officials behind the scenes were frustrated she had been placed in such a politically charged situation.
Historian Peter Hennessy noted the prorogation was “bound to embarrass the Queen” as it risked splitting both Parliament and the nation.
Despite the turmoil, sources say Her Majesty later adopted a more relaxed view of Johnson himself, reportedly describing him as a “roguish and comic figure.”
Just weeks after the Supreme Court’s ruling, she is said to have remarked: “I think he was perhaps better suited to the stage.”
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