Queen Elizabeth once made a hilarious comment about parenting to the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, while she was pregnant, it has emerged. Ms Ardern recalled the private moment with the late monarch in her memoir A Different Kind of Power, extracts of which have been serialised by The Guardian.
The two public figures met at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London in April 2018, just one year after Ms Ardern, who was seven months pregnant at the time, was elected as her country’s prime minister. In her memoir, which will be published on June 3, the former Kiwi prime minister wrote about how she, alongside her husband Clarke Gayford, walked through the halls of Buckingham Palace and how she asked the late Queen about whether she had any piece of parenting advice.
She said: “While in London, we met Queen Elizabeth. She had, of course, raised children in the public eye, so in our private meeting I asked if she had any advice.
“‘You just get on with it,’ she said simply. She sounded so matter-of-fact, just as my grandma Margaret might have.”
Ms Ardern added: “I squeezed the package I was holding, a gift for the queen. It was a framed image of her during a royal tour to New Zealand in 1953, her head back in a full, relaxed laugh. You just get on with it. Of course you do.”
Queen Elizabeth was known for her quick wit and her straight-to-the-point approach.
After the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding in 2018, the late Queen showcased her trademark sense of humour again when the wedding photographer apologised for not being ready on time.
Alexi Lubomirski, who took the official wedding photographs for the Sussexes, recalled the moment recently when the couple celebrated their seventh anniversary.
The photographer said that he asked the Duke of Sussex for advice ahead of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s arrival, to which Harry replied: “My grandparents have taken so many pictures in their lives, it’s not their fun part. If you don’t get it quickly, they’re just going to move out.”
Mr Lubomirski said that the royal couple arrived earlier than expected, with the photographer apologising to the late Queen for making her wait. But it appeared it wasn’t her that he should have been worrying about.
The photographer told the late monarch: “I’m terribly sorry, Your Majesty, we’re going to be about five minutes.” The Queen replied: “It’s not me you need to worry about.”
Her husband, Prince Philip, was known for his aversion to photo calls and would famously stand up just a few snaps in to signal that the session was over.
