Having served as monarch of the United Kingdom for a history-making 70 years, Queen Elizabeth II met many, many notable figures throughout her life. Part of her popularity and success has long been credited with her ability to seemingly never let her personal opinions show.
However former US First Lady Dr Jill Biden has now claimed in her new book, View from the East Wing, that Queen Elizabeth did share her opinions about prominent world leaders behind closed doors. Not only that, but the late monarch wasn't against sharing her views about those she "disapproved of".
Dr Biden, who is married to Joe Biden, who served as 46th President of the United States, has documented her time and various meetings with diplomats, dignitaries and other notable names. This includes a trip to Windsor Castle in June 2021, where she met with Queen Elizabeth II who reportedly trusted her enough to be candid.
According to PEOPLE, Jill writes, "I think she and Joe could have gone on talking forever. She had such a wonderful sense of curiosity about people and world events. She was rather honest about some leaders she disapproved of, and I felt grateful to be taken into her confidence."
While the world leaders in question are not named, this is a surprising claim to make and is at odds with the reputation Her Majesty had built up publicly for decades.
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Their visit to Windsor Castle came just a couple of months after Prince Philip’s death in April. Conscious not to upset Her Majesty, Dr Biden recalls not wanting to bring up the late Duke of Edinburgh in conversation, but the Queen did so herself.
"I studiously did not ask the queen about her husband or anything related to the royal family," Jill claims. "As soon as we began speaking, though, she filled us in on her eleven great-grandchildren and the new one on the way [Sienna Mapelli Mozzi, who was born that September]."
It was during this same trip, which happened to be Dr Biden’s first overseas visit as First Lady, that Her Majesty reportedly shared her practical way she was thinking about beloved husband’s passing.
Dr Biden alleges that Her Majesty revealed Philip, who died aged 99, wouldn’t have wanted to reach the milestone age of 100, as he declared it "too old". According to Philip's own biographer, Gyles Brandreth, he also once said, "I can't imagine anything worse. I'm already falling to pieces as it is. Bits keep dropping off. I have absolutely no desire to cling on to life unnecessarily. Ghastly prospect."
Jill returned to the United Kingdom in 2022 for the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth, and again to represent Joe and the United States in a defining moment of British history - the Coronation of King Charles III in May 2023. She brought her granddaughter with her on what she described as "the once-in-a-lifetime trip" where "[she] felt that [she] was watching history being made."
