Two top aides to former California Gov. George Deukmejian remember the Sacramento visit of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.
The tale about Queen Elizabeth II sipping gin in California’s state Capitol needs some fleshing out. And here it is:
It was the late Ronald Reagan aide Mike Deaver’s tale. He told it to me shortly after Her Majesty toured storm-battered California in the winter of 1983.
The story was off the record back then. But now all the main players have died: The queen, Prince Philip, Gov. George Deukmejian, President Reagan, First Lady Nancy Reagan and Deaver. Nothing’s off the record forever.
So I reported Deaver’s tale in my previous column about the grace and grit displayed by the queen on her venturous 10-day trip.
But two other players in the gin episode who are still with us remember it a bit differently than what Deaver relayed to me hush-hush. And one of them called me after my column ran.
For one thing, the queen and the prince apparently had more than a few sips.
Does it really matter? No. It’s mere trivia. But since the tale gives us a quick look into the private side of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, a historical figure for the ages, it might as well be a clear picture.
Deaver was arguably Reagan’s most trusted aide. He certainly was Nancy Reagan’s. He had been a close advisor all through Reagan’s two terms as California governor and was White House deputy chief of staff. The president assigned him the task of organizing the queen’s trip and escorting her around the state.
He booked a day trip to Sacramento and a meeting in the Capitol with the governor and legislative leaders.
A few days after the visit, this is what Deaver told me: He and the queen wound up in his old Capitol office. “I could use a spot of gin,” she said. The former gubernatorial aide used to keep a small gin bottle in his desk.
