The royals - Kitty Kelley [101]
“God 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 Perón.
The Queen and Philip had entertained Frondizi at Buckingham Palace earlier in the year, when he confided his fears about allowing Perón 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 dictatorship. 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 luster 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 association. 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 constitutional 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 shield the Queen from responsibility and criticism. The government concealed her participation by sealing all documents 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 assumed the secrecy was to cover