Queen Elizabeth was ‘dismayed’ with David Cameron over Brexit, a new royal book has claimed.Â
The late monarch is said to have made the comment to President Barack Obama during his visit to Windsor Castle after her 90th birthday in April 2016.Â
It came two months after Cameron, who was prime minister at the time, called the 2016 referendum on Brexit, which would take place in June later that year. Â
American journalist Susan Page, in her new book ‘The Queen and Her Presidents: The Hidden Hand That Shaped History’, claims Obama told her how the Queen had laid bare her disapproval of the referendum to him during their lunch at the castle.Â
‘At their luncheon, she was not only wary of Brexit but also dismayed by how David Cameron […] was handling it – a very rare royal critique of a prime minister, in public or private,’ Page writes.Â
‘In a calculation that turned out to be disastrously wrong, Cameron had called a referendum for June, two months away.Â
‘She [the Queen] said, effectively, “It’s hard to understand why a prime minister, who presumably understands politics, would put a public referendum forward that he didn’t know what the answer would be of such importance”.’Â
In the new book, longtime journalist Page also claims the Queen was ‘baffled’ by the rise of Donald Trump.Â
Queen Elizabeth II with President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama during their visit to Windsor Castle in April 2016
Queen Elizabeth shakes hands with Obama during his visit to the UK in April 2016Â
Queen Elizabeth greeting David Cameron at Buckingham Palace at an audience to invite him to be the next Prime Minister following a General Election
She put the question to Obama during the same visit in April 2016, a month before Trump wrapped up the Republican nomination.
‘Why is this person so close to running your country?’ she asked Obama, according to excerpts of the book obtained by the Daily Mail.
Page wrote that she posed the same question to Prince Harry’s new American girlfriend, Meghan Markle, several months later.
It took a year and a half into Trump’s first term before he came face-to-face with the Queen, and he is now expected to meet King Charles during a US state visit in April.
The visit will reportedly include a glittering State Banquet at the White House thrown by Trump, who has made no secret of his admiration for the British monarch and his desire for the trip to go ahead.
In a post on social media entitled ‘historic visit’, Trump wrote last month: ‘Melania and I are pleased to announced that Their Majesties, the King and Queen of the United Kingdom, will visit the United States for a Historic State Visit from April 27-30th, which will include a beautiful Banquet Dinner at the White House on the evening of April 28.
‘This momentous occasion will be even more special this year, as we commemorate the 250th Anniversary of our Great Country.Â
‘I look forward to spending time with the King, whom I greatly respect. It will be TERRIFIC!’
The Queen and Her Presidents: The Hidden Hand That Shaped History by Susan Page will be published on April 23.Â
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Queen Elizabeth was ‘dismayed’ with David Cameron over Brexit, new royal book claims