The royals - Kitty Kelley [156]
Reagan had backed Thatcher when British troops landed in the Falkland Islands in 1982 to reclaim them from Argentina. The cost: 237 British servicemen and $3.7 billion. Most people had assumed Britain was too poor and too passive to mount such an attack, so the invasion boosted the country’s prestige. Argentina’s surrender in June 1982 allowed the forceful Prime Minister to emerge with a newfound respect as the Iron Lady. Prince Andrew, the Queen’s favorite child, flew a navy helicopter in the war and returned home a hero.
The “special relationship” between London and Washington became strained after the United States invaded Grenada, a former British colony in the Caribbean, which had remained part of the Commonwealth. As Queen of England, Elizabeth II was also Queen of Grenada and not receptive to invaders, especially allies. “She is immensely displeased with President Reagan over this matter,” said a Labor Party spokesman. The Queen summoned Margaret Thatcher to the Palace to explain why Her Majesty had had to hear the news of the invasion from the BBC and not from the Prime Minister herself. Mrs. Thatcher said she hadn’t known about it until she called the President minutes before. “It’s a benign invasion,” Reagan had told her, asserting that one thousand Americans had to be evacuated from the island after a communist takeover. Mrs. Thatcher told the Queen that she, too, was upset, but Britain would not condemn the invasion. “We stand by the United States and will continue to do so in the larger alliances,” said the Prime Minister. “The United States is the final guarantor of freedom in Europe.”
The Queen showed her displeasure during that meeting by not offering the Prime Minister a seat. Afterward she reported Thatcher’s reaction: “Only two curtsies today.” The exaggerated deference of the Prime Minister, who referred to herself as “we,” amused the royal family. Prince Philip dismissed her as “the greengrocer’s daughter” because she was born in a flat above her family’s grocery in Grantham. The Queen, known for her wicked mimicry, relished telling Margaret Thatcher jokes. Her favorite was about the Prime Minister’s visiting an old age home.
“Do you know who I am?” said the Queen, imitating Thatcher’s grandiose accent as she shook the hand of an elderly resident.
“No,” replied the befuddled resident, “but if you ask Matron, she’ll tell you.”
Once, however, a joke backfired. There is a story, probably true, about a Commonwealth diplomat who went to Buckingham Palace to present his credentials. When the Queen thought he had gone, she began to mimic him, then saw, to her distress, that he was still in the room. “Not bad, ma’am,” he said courteously as he bowed himself out, “not bad.”
The Queen’s press secretary tries to humanize the monarch by emphasizing her sense of humor, which frequently lurks behind a stern facade. He disclosed that the royal family called the Queen “Miss Piggyface” when she looked bored or displeased. She, too, made fun of herself that way. Watching a video of the royal wedding, she called to her husband, “Philip, come here and look. I’ve got my Miss Piggyface on.”
“Sometimes, certainly not always, Her Majesty enjoyed watching her puppet on Spitting Image,” said her press secretary, referring to the satirical television show that used rubberized puppets to make fun of the royal family and other establishment figures. One sketch that amused the Queen featured a rubber caricature of the Prime Minister—heavily rouged