Sturgeon: The Queen quizzed me on Salmond sex claims

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

The late Queen asked for 'gossip' about the Alex Salmond sex claims, the former First Minister has claimed.
The Monarch immediately asked for details when the women met at Balmoral Castle a few weeks after misconduct claims against Mr Salmond first emerged in 2018.
Claiming the Queen 'loved a bit of gossip', Ms Sturgeon wrote in her autobiography Frankly: 'She asked me about it almost as soon as I sat down. She wanted to know more of what was going on.'
Describing herself as a republican 'at heart and by instinct', Ms Sturgeon lavishes praise on the late Queen as 'utterly fascinating' and 'an incredible woman'.
She says she was 'struck by the aura' she 'exuded as she entered the room', and said she had 'a mystique' around her that no other member of the Royal Family has.
Ms Sturgeon's 470-page book is officially released on Thursday, when she is due to talk about it at the Edinburgh Book Festival.
But copies went on sale in branches of Waterstones across Scotland yesterday, with the company insisting no sales embargo was in place.
Writing about a visit she and her husband Peter Murrell made to Balmoral in September 2018, Ms Sturgeon said she enjoyed her audiences with the Queen at the Highland estate.
She wrote: 'She was always relaxed and chatty, and these sessions would typically last for around an hour.'
She said chatting to the late Queen was like 'being given a window' onto all the major events of twentieth century history.
Ms Sturgeon added: 'She also loved a bit of gossip. She always wanted to hear the stories behind the political headlines.'
She said she had an audience with the monarch at Balmoral just a couple of weeks after the allegations about Alex Salmond emerged.
Ms Sturgeon said she assumed she wouldn't mention it, but wrote: 'She asked me about it almost as soon as I sat down. She wasn't being trivial in any way, she wanted to know more of what was going on. I think she was also trying to put me at ease.'
She said she felt she was 'able to talk freely', and 'open up and share whatever was on my mind'.
Mr Salmond, who died aged 69 last October, always considered himself something of a favourite of the Queen because of their mutual love of horseracing.
Ms Sturgeon insists in her book she is a republican, and describes kneeling and kissing the monarch's hand to join the Privy Council as somewhat 'strange'.
But she is also clearly impressed by the late Queen, calling her time with her 'special'.
She writes: 'I am not a monarchist by instinct, but the private time I spent with the Queen ranks as one of the great privileges of my life.
'It was clear from our first meeting that she was an extraordinary woman.'
She is less flattering about Prince William, now Prince of Wales, complaining his office was 'disingenuous' about a 2021 private meeting in which she avoided politics.
It later emerged he had met former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown around the same time 'for balance' on the independence question.
Ms Sturgeon said in her view 'it wasn't right to suggest' any balance was needed.
In a statement, Waterstones said: 'The publication date does not necessarily equal an on-sale date unless the publisher puts an embargo in place.
In other revelations in the new book, Ms Sturgeon:
* Admitted that the controversy over her botched bid to force through gender reforms was 'one of the most bruising episodes' of her entire time in politics and that she 'lost the dressing room' over trans rapist Isla Bryston being sent to a women's prison.
* Condemned JK Rowling's 'Sturgeon, destroyer of women's right' t-shirt as a 'stunt' and claimed it 'was never going to elevate the debate or illuminate the issues at the heart of it'.
* Described a phone call with US President Donald Trump as being like 'a bad acid dream'
* Revealed that the late Sir Sean Connery gave her speaking lessons and told her she should deepen her voice.
* Said she 'felt sick' reading about sex pest minister Derek Mackay's approach to a schoolboy but still counts him as a 'friend'.
Ms Sturgeon, who is standing stand down as an MSP next year, admitted she remained 'haunted' by the decisions she took - and didn't take - during the Covid pandemic.
Even thinking about the period unleashed 'a torrent of emotion', she said.
She described it as the hardest period of her career, adding: 'I still agonise over what I might have done differently. I think part of me always will.'
But it would ultimately be for 'history' to judge whether the right calls were made on testing care home patients, infection controls and lockdown.
Sexual misconduct allegations against Mr Salmond first emerged in late August 2018, when the Daily Record revealed he had been the subject of a Scottish Government investigation after complaints from two female civil servants.
He later had the probe set aside in a judicial review at the Court of Session, showing it had been unfair, unlawful and 'tainted by apparent bias', getting back £512,000 in legal fees.