Queen hit out at 'awful' police in rare political statement on striking miners

22 August 2023 , 10:29

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The Queen made the comment while watching a news broadcast in 1984 (Image: Getty Images)

The late Queen described the actions of police as "awful" after they charged into picketing miners at the Battle of Orgreave.

Queen Elizabeth's reaction to the incident during the miners' strike was disclosed by Julian Haviland, former political editor of The Times, in a radio interview recorded this summer before his death this month and broadcast today at 11am on Times Radio.

The story was never published but the journalist claimed he confirmed the story about the Queen's horror after seeing footage of mounted officers charging at miners in June 1984 at the Orgreave coking plant near Rotherham, but it was dropped as incrimination of the sources was likely.

Police at the Orgreave Coking Plant in 1984 (PA)

"It turned out there were only two other people in the room when she had said it," Haviland said. "She had said it - I got that absolutely confirmed."

When footage emerged, the sovereign was paying careful attention. "The Queen was watching on telly and when the horses rode through some of the miners and knocked a few down, the Queen said words [to the effect of] 'Oh, that's awful! Oh, we shouldn't do that!'," Haviland recalled. "And [for] the Queen to make a political comment like that was news."

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Haviland, who worked for The Times between 1981 and 1986, also revealed that Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister at the time, would drink a large scotch or two before her weekly audience with the Queen, saying she was "the only person in the world of whom Margaret Thatcher was frightened". Haviland also recalled interviewing Thatcher in Downing Street and being struck by the amount of whisky she was drinking, saying: "After she finished she took an extremely large scotch. Margaret had quite a capacity.”

A miner injured in the altercation (Mirrorpix)

Cars burning at the Orgreave coke works (PA)

Haviland told then Times editor Charles Douglas-Home, who was nephew of the former prime minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home and cousin of Princess Diana with extensive society contacts, that he thought this was because he had "shaken her a little".

Mr Douglas-Home said he believed it was because: "It was Tuesday at 5pm and her next engagement was her weekly audience with the Queen. "The one person in the world of whom Margaret Thatcher was frightened was the Queen. “That's why she downed a lot."

Haviland recorded the interview on July 11, a month to the day before his death. A series of interviews with former political editors of The Times is being broadcast this week.‌

Russell Myers