Former PM David Cameron has revealed he asked whether the Queen could “raise an eyebrow” about the prospect of Scotland voting for independence.
He told the BBC he sought help from royal officials days before the 2014 vote amid “mounting panic” he may lose.
What was discussed was not “anything that would be in any way improper… but just a raising of the eyebrow even… a quarter of an inch”, he said.
The Queen later urged people to “think very carefully about the future”.
The comments – made to a well-wisher outside a church on the Balmoral estate – were one of the main talking points of the referendum campaign.
Reflecting on his rise to power and six years in Downing Street in a two-part BBC documentary, Mr Cameron said the Queen’s words on the issue were “very limited but helped to put a slightly different perception on things”.
Scotland went on to reject independence by a margin of 55.3% to 44.7%, a result which Mr Cameron said left him “blissfully happy”.
The Cameron Years, which begins on Thursday, examines Mr Cameron’s modernisation of the party, his decision to enter a coalition with the Liberal Democrats after the 2010 election and the fallout from 2016 Brexit referendum, which led to his resignation.
In it, he says:
- He “broods” every day about the Brexit referendum and its consequences
- He ignored George Osborne’s advice against the poll and Michael Gove’s reservations
- Boris Johnson “agonised” over his position and “did not really want to leave” the EU
- He still believes Brexit can “be delivered and made to work”
- His government’s austerity programme was “painful” but necessary
- Legalising gay marriage was perhaps his “proudest” achievement in office
In the run-up to the 18 September poll, it was reported that the Queen was concerned about the possibility of Scotland opting to sever the 300-year union with England and Wales.
A Sunday Times poll on 7 September putting the Yes campaign ahead contributed to a “mounting sense of panic” in Downing Street, Mr Cameron recalls.
