Peter David Charter, author of royal audience. You are gointoe part of a cspan first. We are gngo read a recipe. Calls for fr teacups sugar, two eggs, two teaspoons bicarbonate of soda, three aspoons, and two tablespoons melted butter. Beat eggs, sugar, and about how if half thmi together. Add remainder of milk as required. Fold in the melted butter. What and whos recipe is this . Mr. Charter its a very remarkable recipe that Queen Elizabeth ii, the late queen of greatin, gave to president eisenhower after he had had what really is a remarkable special treatment from the royal family. That was, he was invited to the Summer Holiday retreat of the royal family, a private lace where very few members of British High Society get to go, let alone share a picnic where they queen makes scones, a kind of pancake eisenhower enjoyed so much that the queen said i will send you the recipe. When she was a few weeks later, actually she was withdrawn a little because she was pregnant at the time. She saw a photograph of eisenhower in the paper and it reminded her, i must some the recipe to ike. So she had it typed up and in her own hand she wrote extra guidance at the bottom, and sent off the recipe. Peter why was Eisenhower Special . Because of their shared experience, generation, etc. . Mr. Charter i have looked at the queens relationship over her old 70 year reign. And its pretty clear when you look at how the royal family collectively, but also the queen related to eisenhower. He was a standout president for them. And i think it is pretty clear, it goes back to her formative years in the second world war. When she saw the gis come over she was in those meetings as a teenager actually sometimes with her father george vi and eisenhower. It was the biggest moment almost, the turning point of the second world war, dday, 1944. Eisenhower is in charge of the operation, it went brutal in late it went brilliantly. Of course many lives were lost. The queen never forgot that sacrifice and that remarkable europe. Ment, the einvasion of and for wh life, as Winston Churchill told her, we have a special relationship with america. You must keep the americans close. It was the mission of her life and eisenhower was someone who made it easy for her to achieve. Peter and Queen Elizabeth had a horse named eisenhower as well . Mr. Charter remarkably, the horses that pulled the royal state coach at her coronation were named after 40 for missed generals after famous generals. And one of them was called eisenhower. Peter the queen took her rain beginning may 5, 1942. Biden, trump, obama, george w. Bush, clinton and truman. Thats 14. But the subtitle of your book is 70 years and 13 president. Who was left out . Mr. Charter obviously he is part of american history, but sadly, not one that the queen met while he was sitting president. Lbj. There are reasons for this, which i go into in the book. There are accidental, if you like, reasons that when jfk was assassinated, she was planning she would have liked to have gone to the funeral. She could not go pretty her doctors prevented her because she was too heavily pregnant at the time. When churchill died a couple of years later, lbj wanted to come but he got sick during his inauguration in january 1965. And his doctors prevented him from traveling to the u. K. So if it were not for those unfortunate accidents of history, they would have met. But what happened of course was that lbjs full term became completely overwhelmed with vietnam and he was angry with the british under their Prime Minister who would not commit troops to vietnam. And he basically had little time for those countries that were not assisting. He focused on the countries and visiting and entertaining leaders from the countries that were assisting in vietnam. Peter how important was her sister margarets visit to the u. S. , where she met lbj . Mr. Charter thats right. There was kind of a makeup visit that lbj alrdy knew margaret from previous engagements. The Independence Celebrations in jamaica, for example. And so when margaret announced her first big royal tour of america, the british establishment did not wanted it to be all glamorous parties and hollywood, which margaret probably wanted it to be. She knew lbj a little. It was fixed up she would have dinner at the white house. And so while the queen did not meet lbj, there was a rather glamorous and favorite occasion. Lbj was not one for parties. I think it was perhaps the biggest White House Party dinner of the entire administration, where she sat next to the president and everyone had a fine old time. And lbj, who was recovering from an operation at the time, perhaps against dr. s advice, took to the dance floor with margaret. Peter did that include angloamerican relations at the time . Mr. Charter that is a good question. I think it is said that lbj never bore a real grudge against britain that would be damaging to the special relationship. His problem was with the labour Prime Minister who was refusing to commit british troops, because that was causing tremendous problems with his own party back home. When you get a royal visitation like that, history shows us, and throughout the book as well, that the atmosphere dinner generally improves. The publicity around it is so normally positive that relationships are kept at a special level. It is not every country that can arrange to have a member of his leading family attend a dinner at the white house, and a dinner that i all accounts the lady was really excited to be able to host. For a change, in the lbj white house. Peter you also write that the queen later met lady bird johnson. Mr. R thats right. On a subsequent visit to texas, she was able to meet her. But she met various other first ladies and former president. She met former president hoover on a trip as well. 13 sitting president s is in the title of the book, but you can see the wealth of her connections and meetings with senior american politicians was really extraordinary. I dont think it would have been repeated by anyone else in history. Peter you conjecture, along with dwight eisenhower, she had some other favorite. Who do you mentioned . Mr. Charter right. I think because it was so difficult for me to pin down one favorite, i thought there are several that stand out. I really came down for eisenhower. That is obviously clear. I spoke to susan eisenhower, his granddaughter, about it, and she gave me really nice details about how, for example, eisenhower painted. Eisenhower was famously quite a good hobby painter. But for her own greatest generation, if you like, she really did get on with reagan. And probably what viewers will know, kw anything about the relationship between the queen anddes, there was a famous horsee nge between the queen and reagan in windsor park when he visited in 1982 that was really symbolic. I dont think you would see anywhere else an american president sharing a horse ride with another wool leader. Or any leaders going through the trouble or perhaps having the delight of doing such an event for the cameras. But it was pretty clear to me that she got on famously with the bushes, especially george h. W. Bush. That was partly because of barbara bush. I think she really liked and respected this dog loving, animal loving matriarch with a big family and slightly troublesome sons. That perhaps was something they had in common. And they got along famously, just because of that similarity. Then i also say from the younger generation, the postwar generation, its pretty clear that a really niceelationship developed with the obama late on in the queens life of course. It wasnt clear to the british that obama liked Great Britain and was that interested in europe, as much as say the people of Great Britain seemed to be rather enthusiastic about him. And so he got special treatment from the queen, but they clicked immediately. You can see for example when Michelle Obama and the girls were privately traveling in london, they got invited to Buckingham Palace and the girls got a carriage ride around the grounds of Buckingham Palace, all privately, no media. Just a sign of a close relationship. Peter you describe Queen Elizabeth ii as the undisputed jewel of u. K. Diplomacy. Mr. Charter no question for me that she was, on many levels, a fantastic but also necessary performer for our country. Now, this works on the superficial level, if you like, of publicity and photographs and pomp and circumstance. But if you look at what she did when she had her meetings, they were rather strategically placed. She had a big state visit to america after the suez crisis. He wanted to bankrupt the country. He had not been told britain was going to invade egypt. He thought this could precipitate a conflagration with the soviet union maybe. So she went over to do the repair job, if you like, between britain and america. And this was the case in different ways throughout her reign. As i mentioned, actually, the real fears about obama, al about President Biden, did he really liked the u. K. , was he really fond of ireland and irish republicanism so that he would not be thinking favorably towards britain . So what happens when he comes over as part of a g7 meeting . Only one of the seven leaders gets invited to Windsor Castle. Guess who . Its President Biden who gets tea and crumpets with the queen. Peter where did the term special relationship come from . Mr. Charter that is all down to Winston Churchill, wartime Prime Minister who came back into office in the 1950s just at the time when elizabeth came to the throne. He was her first Prime Minister. And he gave a speech in america, in missouri, at the invitation of president truman. He was friendly with truman from their interactions at the end of the wartime period. Its best known for the phrase, an iron curtain is falling over europe. But in that same speech he outlined what he thought should be the special relationship between britain and the commonwealth and america. Not just militarily, by the way. Scientific research and education as well. But it has also become rather associated with the fact that at the time, britain and europe were heavily dependent upon american largess and funding to rebuild after the second world war. Some historians view it as a little bit of a dependency, especially pleading if you like, more special on one side than the other. What the queen managed to do through her reign was established this term of churchills as a partnership of equals in terms of the level of involvement in the modern era with trains and investment between the countries is that had become much more important. Peter for those who are semifamiliar with the u. S. british history, some of this sounds familiar from the crown. How accurate is that series . Mr. Charter well, we could whole Program Going blowbyblow through different episodes of the crown. It should be enjoyed for what it is. A lot of it is done with artistic license. For example when margaret visited lbj as we discussed, there were no reports of a limerick contest or a kiss afterwards. There are reports of some quite frenetic dancing. I mean, they are not talking about lbj and margaret so much as some of the other guests. And it was a great evening. But it was not quite as the crown portrayed it. Peter you describe the u. S. As royal obsessed. Mr. Charter well, we are doing a whole hour on cspan on the royals. That is not the only thing, of course. If you look at the tv viewing figures, i was quite amazed to learn that the audience Prince William and catherines wedding was a bigger tv audience than for the Royal Wedding for Prince Charles and diana spencer. And that just shows that its big in america. You can scroll through the tv channels now and probably find a documentary on diana. Its never gone away. It just shows the interest has continued with successive generations. Without putting too fine a point on it, really, the soap opera side of it, which has sadly overtaken the two boys, william and harry of course, dominates in American News and watercooler discussion as much as events between the stars of american popular life. Peter and you spend quite a bit of time here in the states, dont you . What is your day job. Mr. Charter yes, i am assistant editor of the times of london. That makes me the Washington Bureau chief here in washington. I have lived and worked here for five years. And it became pretty clear to me, one of the reasons why i thought to the book actually was that it is a real conversation point whenever i am in social gatherings. The conversation ready quickly comes around to the whale family. To the royal family. I am supposed to know from the u. K. Of course, exactly what is going on behind the curtain. Peter you also write that 55 million americans watched the queens 1953 coronation, which is a huge number when you think about the number of tvs. Are the brits as obsessed as we are . Mr. Charter that is a good question. If anything there is a bit too much of it in the u. K. , and so some people get a bit fed up with it. Too much gossip. Because one thing about the royal family and the thing i have tried to avoid in the book is that because they are rather private and a lot of interactions happen behind the scenes and a lot of conversation is not recorded, there is not much video, for example, or diary records of the queens personal conversations. The tabloids and the media often tend to fill in the gaps with speculation and supposition. And what i have tried to do in the book is get to what was really going on, what we know from the historical record, what i know from people who were involved in setting up some of these meetings. But that is to say that there is a lot of Media Coverage of the royals which is not terribly reliable. So it is a bit overwhelming at times. You might feel it in america too. And thats ultimately not a great thing for the royal family either. It needs to maintain a certain level of Popular Support to continue. It is a total anachronism. It is a hereditary family that has been at the pinnacle of British Society and politics for 1000 years. And you would not create a system like that in the modern democratic age. And yet especially Queen Elizabeth ii, i feel, became a real linchpin of the constitutional democracy as it has evolved in my country. Peter what was the impact of the 1969 bbc documentary . Mr. Charter that is a great question, because it was the first time that cameras were ever allowed into Buckingham Palace to see the royals in their private quarters in their offices. And they are at play. You see Prince Philip flying up his flying hours. There are other scenes of them on the Royal Yacht Britannia practicing the evacuation procedure and having to put on lifejackets and jumping off onto another ship. This was a revelation when it was broadcast in britain. Because the access, it was just unknown before. You heard them talking in relaxed terms to each other, but one of the scenes captured is a visit by president nixon who goes into Buckingham Palace. And he is actually talking to Prince Charles, who was a young man at the time, aged about 21. Supposedly one of the worlds most eligible bachelors. And nixon raises the subject of, oh, my daughters follow you very closely on television. And Prince Philip who is there, he has been briefed that nixon is a bit of a royalist and he has thoughts about one of his daughters particularly, the one who is not married. Prince philip says, oh well, one of the daughters perhaps not so much, meaning that one of nixons daughters just got married. So there was one who is single that might be interested to follow the activities of the most eligible bachelor in the world, and thats unfortunately when the whole party moves after the camera shot down the corridor. But this comes up later, when Prince Charles makes a visit to washington, his first trip as prince of wales. Funnily enough, he finds himself in almost every situation like at the baseball park or the wildlifeanctuary, for the party on the whiteou grounds, somehow tricia nixon haalways been placed alongside him, which made for somere pictures. Charles himself later said, oh yes, that is when they were trying to set me up with tricia nixon. Peter did the queen ever meet fdr, that you know of . Mr. Charter she did not, no. She was the first royal ever to fly across the atlantic, but that was in 1951 afterheeath of fdr. When she was still a princess she met truman. Peter because of course joe kennedy was fdrs ambassador for a while. Mr. Charter this is a really interesting point that emerges from her formative years in the runup to the war. Kennedy becomes a rather unpopular ambassador in britain, because he, for one, cannot see why on earth america should get involved in the war in europe and makes that pretty clear. That is not what fdr is thinking. However, fdr is campaigning on keeping america out of any war in europe. So theres this contradiction in what is being presented to the public a bit. And theres hits this chafing behind the scenes were fdr wants Joseph Kennedy to get with the program, that america will support the u. K. If it really comes to it, but while he is campaigning for his reelection, hes not going to commit to send british troops into mainland europe, for example. And so they fall out and eventually Joseph Kennedy is recalled. But not before quite a famous, or quite an intriguing meeting happens. Because kennedys son, john kennedy, comes to visit on a brea