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Posted on Sun 8 February 2026
Was the Queen a remainer or leaver? - The Round Table - December 2025
In his book of Power and the Palace (Headline Press,2025), Valentine Low tells us of a minister who claims that the late Queen told him, ‘We shouldn’t leave the EU’ and ‘it’s better to stick with the devil you know’ (Low, 2025, 304-305). Mr Low is a respected journalist and a former Royal correspondent for The Times (2008-2023). He must be reporting what he has heard, but to what in conversation was the Queen responding? ‘Stick(ing) with the devil you know’ is hardly a ringing endorsement of the EU! Was her remark simply reflective of a fait accompli of British membership? Low’s book is based on a wide range of interviews with senior figures in government and royal circles. While some of these are named, others, including the minister mentioned above, are not.
Given the willingness of so many to talk about their conversations with the Queen, all I can say is that in conversations with Her Majesty, while staying with her over a weekend, she said something that sounded very different to me. Low is right that she often expressed strong opinions, without any overt restrictions of confidentiality. While discussing the respective merits of the European Union (EU) and the Commonwealth, she said that the latter was not just an economic and commercial alliance but was much richer and deeper than that. The Commonwealth was based on a common history and heritage that encompassed a wide range of people of different faiths, races, cultures and languages who were willing, nevertheless, to belong together in this way. As its head, she had, of course, a specific role to play in its life, which she did not in the structures of the EU. This may have influenced her thinking in this regard.
The richness and depth that she so valued arises because the Commonwealth is the result of the best in the British Empire. All empires have good and bad aspects to them and the British Empire is no exception. There was, undoubtedly, exploitation of lands and peoples, slavery, oppression and trading practices that make us blush today. The positives, however, include bringing, through irrigation, vast areas of land under cultivation, the creation of modern communication and sanitation infrastructure for towns and cities and a whole host of society and a whole host of social amenities for ordinary people. More importantly, however, was the gradual introduction of democratic institutions, traditions of Common Law, as well as modern forms of legislation, universal education (including female education for the first time in many societies), a trained bureaucracy, the emergence of civil society and the proliferation of organisations for human welfare. The slave trade and then slavery itself were abolished throughout British domains long before other nations took similar steps.
By encouraging these developments, the empire provided for its own eventual demise. The emergence of a free press, of participation in political processes (however limited) and of modern education naturally gave birth to ambitions for greater freedom and, eventually, for independence, which came about both through struggle and through evolution of institutions introduced by the British.
The Commonwealth has survived, indeed flourished, because of the common inheritance of law, parliamentary institutions and practices, the English language and sports like cricket (with its origins in England) and polo (with origins in North-West India, now Pakistan). Not only has it evolved from being a white-dominated organisation, but it has also developed into a genuine fellowship of some 56 nations, ranging from the most populous to the smallest, across every continent and including people of every race.
One testimony to its vigour is that nations that were not part of the British Empire have been joining. This includes traditionally Francophone countries such as Gabon, Togo and Rwanda. Mozambique, formally Portuguese, has always joined. They say that the reason they are joining is that they too wish to share in the beneficial inheritance of the rule of law, democracy, respect for human rights and the importance of English as a means of international communication.
As Low points out, the Queen was acutely aware of the importance of Europe for the United Kingdom. The UK is and will remain European. Its industry, trade, culture and security are tied up with the continent to which it is nearest. Peace in Europe is of vital interest to a country that has experienced the ravages of two World Wars, much of which were fought in Europe. Such a commitment to being European does not, however, necessarily demand membership of the EU, which has evolved from being a trading partnership to an organisation with aspirations to be a fully fledged ‘United States of Europe’. The Queen was well aware of the distinctive ways in which consciousness of nationhood, including a constitutional monarchy, parliament and the judicial system, has developed in this country. In the end, such awareness of a distinctive national identity cannot easily give way to a federalist vision, of a ‘United States of Europe’ kind, which, at least some of the leading nations in the EU seem to have and wish to foster.
Reference
Low, Valentine. (2025), Power and the palace. The inside story of the monarchy and No 10 Downing Street. Headline Press.