Blair Memoir a Hit, Despite a Few Hard Knocks
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LONDON -- "You are my 10th prime minister," Queen Elizabeth observes to Tony Blair when she meets him at Buckingham Palace on his first day in office in 1997, according to "A Journey: My Political Life," Mr. Blair's new memoir. "The first was Winston. That was before you were born."
It is a memorable scene, one that (along with another one depicting Prince Philip manning the barbecue at a family cookout) has reportedly displeased the queen, since it is considered rude and uncouth for prime ministers to reveal secret details about private encounters with the royal family. But in what was the latest curveball in the carefully choreographed publicity campaign for Mr. Blair's book, it turns out that the queen may not have actually said what Mr. Blair claims she said.
Or maybe she did, but only in the movies. In "The Queen," the 2006 film about the aftermath of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, Helen Mirren, playing Elizabeth, greets Michael Sheen, playing Mr. Blair, saying in part: "You are my 10th prime minister, Mr. Blair. My first was Winston Churchill."
Peter Morgan, screenwriter of "The Queen," said that the scene in the film was entirely fictional, based on his imagination. Since it is unlikely that he "guessed absolutely perfectly," Mr. Morgan told The Daily Telegraph, perhaps Mr. Blair "had one gin and tonic too many" and -- like Ronald Reagan before him -- "confused the scene in the film with what actually happened."
Mr. Blair has always maintained that he has never seen "The Queen," which depicts him as chirpy and ingratiating, but also politically astute.
A spokesman for Knopf, his publisher, repeated that assertion on Wednesday -- the accusation is merely "a good P.R. gambit by Morgan to direct folks to their Netflix queue," said the spokesman, Paul Bogaards, who is acting as Mr. Blair's media representative for the book. So the mystery of the coincidence will have to remain so.
First Published September 9, 2010 2:00 am
