When Buckingham Palace announced the death of her Majesty on September 8, the world reflected on what had happened in Britain over the course of her 70 years of service. Indeed, throughout that time she was served by 15 Prime Ministers.
With each she had a different relationship. Each Prime Minister held office for a different length of time. However, with each PM she had weekly meetings about the goings-on in Parliament. The Queen was a Prime Minister’s best confidante.
With many she enjoyed good relationships, some of the 15 even accompanying her to Balmoral during the summer.
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill was the first Prime Minister that served the Queen. He even waited for her on the tarmac when she came back following her father’s death. It is said that Churchill was the Queen’s favourite Prime Minister.
When the queen took the throne, she relied on Mr Churchill’s guidance and counsel. She was only 25 and had not expected to wear the crown this early. She even wrote him a letter when he left office in 1955, telling him how much she would miss him.
Anthony Eden
Athony Eden was the Queen’s second Prime Minister and Churchill’s successor. He was in power for only two years, from April 1955 to January 1957. Eden led the country through the Suez crisis in 1956 and saw the events between Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend unfold.
Harold Macmillan
It is said that, at first, the Queen and Harold Macmillan did not see eye to eye. He liked the city, while she preferred the country. They were quite opposites. However, throughout his years in office (1957 to 1963) the Queen came to rely on his counsel.
The Queen and Macmillan were even seen listening to the radio together as John Glenn went up into space in 1962.
Alec Douglas-Home
Alec Douglas-Home was only Prime Minister for one year before being replaced by Harold Wilson. Douglas-Home and the Queen got on reasonably well as he was also a Scottish landowner. However, his time in office stopped short in 1964.
Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson, the Queen’s fifth Prime Minister, took the role twice. Not only that but he was the Queen’s first Labour PM. Throughout both his stints as PM, he oversaw a lot of societal change within Britain. He abolished the death capital punishment and liberalised birth control and abortion laws in the UK.
Edward Heath
Edward Heath was the Prime Minister in between Harold Wilson’s two tenures of the office. However, the two did not grow to be close. He is the PM who took Britain towards the European Union. In contrast, the Queen was fond of the Commonwealth she had worked hard for.
James Callaghan
It was said that Callaghan and the Queen enjoyed a good relationship. He was a devoted monarchist and found the Queen to be a good listener. They had warm rapport and enjoyed the conversations they had together.
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher was the UK’s first female Prime Minister. It was thought that the Queen, who thought of herself as a modern monarch, and Thatcher would get on. However, the two women often clashed. Particularly over how to handle apartheid in South Africa. Thatcher was one of the UK’s longest serving PMs from 1979 to 1990.
However, when Baroness Thatcher died, the Queen attended her funeral, showing the respect she had for her.
John Major
As Churchill navigated the country in a post war world, John Major navigated the scandals of the Royal Family. He was PM at the time of Diana’s death in 1997, he is the one who announced that Charles and Diana would be separating. And that the pair would be getting a divorce.
Furthermore, he was the Prime Minister in 1992, the year the Queen called her annus horribilis. The year ended with a large fire breaking out at Windsor Castle, one of her favourite residences. Major oversaw the arrangements that would see the Queen pay taxes.
Tony Blair
While the Queen thought of herself as a modern monarch, Tony Blair also saw himself as a moderniser. To him the Queen represented continuity and stability. The two did not have a lot in common. The relationship was kept strictly professional.
Gordon Brown
Brown was the last Labour Prime Minister that Queen Elizabeth II met with. One of the rare PM’s to not have gone to Oxford or Cambridge for his education, the Queen and him had a good relationship.
David Cameron
David Cameron was the Prime Minister who held the Scottish Independence referendum, in 2014 and led the Brexit vote. He and the Queen were said to have gotten on well. However, he had to apologise profusely about some of the comments he made to the New York mayor about the results of the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum.
In the video he can be heard saying that she ‘purred down the line’ when she was informed that Scotland would stay in the United Kingdom. Until then the Queen had declined to make her opinion on Scotland voting for independence known.
Theresa May
Theresa May was only the second of the Queen’s female Prime Ministers. Even as she struggled to bring a Brexit deal that Parliament would accept, she and the Queen got on well. When she was forced to step down, when she failed to bring a signed Brexit deal, the Queen was sad to see her go.
Boris Johnson
It is said that the Queen and Boris Johnson enjoyed a good relationship. Upon receiving news of her death, Boris Johnson wrote a very meaningful letter about her majesty’s passing. It indicates that he cared for the Queen even if he had stepped down.
The Queen had also sent warm wishes to Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie following the birth of their son.
Liz Truss
Liz Truss is one of the final people to have seen her majesty before she passed away on Thursday September 8. The Queen had formally invited Liz Truss to form a government under her name. Not much will be known about what kind of relationship they had.
Truss will be King Charles III’s first Prime Minister.