Jacinda Ardern reveals Queen Elizabeth II's parenting advice

Telegraph

2 days ago

Dame Jacinda Ardern was told by Queen Elizabeth II that she should 'just get on with it' after she sought advice on how to bring up a child in the public eye.
The former prime minister of New Zealand, 44, has recalled her exchange with the late monarch at a Commonwealth summit in April 2018 while seven-months pregnant with her daughter, Neve Te Aroha.
On the first day of the summit at Buckingham Palace, Dame Jacinda, who has advocated for New Zealand becoming a republic, was one of four leaders invited for a 20-minute private meeting with Queen Elizabeth II.
In an extract of her new memoir A Different Kind of Power, published in The Guardian, she writes: '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.'
She is only the second elected head of government in modern history to give birth while in office, after the late Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan.
Dame Jacinda, wearing a mustard-coloured gown and a kākahu, a traditional Māori cloak woven from flax and covered with feathers, had given Queen Elizabeth II a framed image of the monarch during a royal tour to New Zealand in 1953, her head back in a full relaxed laugh.
While waiting for the other 52 heads of state to assemble, the then prime minister said she had jokingly asked palace ushers whether the lines should be arranged 'boy, girl, boy, girl'. Only five of the leaders were women.
She recalls: 'They looked at me for a moment, perhaps trying to decide whether to take the comment seriously, before moving on to the next leader.
'Of course I hadn't been serious'.
Dame Jacinda resigned as leader of the Labour Party and prime minister in January 2023, telling the nation of five million people that she had 'no more left in the tank'.
Her five-year tenure was marked by uncompromising and successful, if deeply unpopular, containment measures to stop the spread of Covid-19 during the pandemic.
Dame Jacinda's compassionate response and swift reaction to the Christchurch terrorist attack, in which 51 Muslim worshippers were killed in March 2019, won her praise from even her staunchest opponents who had criticised her 'woke' attitude towards politics.
In her memoir, she recalled how Donald Trump, the US president, had questioned her description at the time of the far-Right shooter as a 'terrorist'.
She writes: 'We discussed what might happen to the terrorist. I used that word, 'terrorist', specifically and President Trump asked if we were calling the gunman that.'
She said to him: 'Yes, this was a white man from Australia who deliberately targeted our Muslim community. We are calling him that.'
Mr Trump did not respond, but asked if there was anything America could do. 'You can show sympathy and love for all Muslim communities,' she told him.
Brenton Tarrant shot dead 51 people at two mosques and had broadcast his rampage over the internet.
He was later sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the first time the maximum available sentence has been imposed in the country.
In an accompanying interview with The Guardian, Dame Jacinda described Mr Trump as 'taller than I expected, his tan more pronounced'.
Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, is 'quiet, often alone and almost expressionless', she said.
When asked for her opinion of Boris Johnson, the former UK prime minister, Dame Jacinda is said to have rolled her eyes.
She was awarded a damehood by the Prince of Wales last year, despite her being a staunch republican.
Initially, she said she was 'incredibly humbled' but 'in two minds' about accepting the accolade, but did travel to Windsor Castle to collect the award.
Dame Jacinda donned a traditional Maori cloak, often worn during special ceremonies, to pick up the award for leading New Zealand through the pandemic.