The Queen was on Sunday reported to be “so annoyed” over unflattering references to the royal family in former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s memoirs that she “planned” to withhold granting him an exclusive honour automatically granted to all leaders of Scottish descent on leaving office.
The Sunday Express quoted unnamed “royal insiders” as saying that Mr Blair’s references to personal and private conversations in his book, A Journey, was thought to have deeply “disappointed” the Queen and she might snub him by withholding the Order of the Thistle, the highest Scottish honour.
The book describes how Prince Philip did the cooking at a barbecue at Balmoral while the Queen cleared the plates and did the washing-up.
There are also references to the Queen’s reaction to the death of Princess Diana.
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised if his chances of being awarded the Order of the Thistle have floated to 100 to-one because of his cocky references,” said royal biographer Hugo Vickers.
The Queen’s cousin, Lady Elizabeth Anson, accused Mr Blair of breaching the royal protocol by revealing personal conversations and said she was sure the monarch would be “disappointed”.
Another “royal insider” was reported as saying: “It is a well-known convention that details of private conversations between the royal family and the Prime Minister stay private.”
On Saturday, anti-war activists in Dublin threw shoes and eggs at Mr. Blair accusing him of making “blood money” out of the book in which he defends the Iraq invasion.
