Breach of confidence: Don't quote the queen
Sep. 25, 2012 Updated: Sep. 26, 2012 8:03 a.m.
A BBC reporter's revelations of Queen Elizabeth's views on a radical Muslim cleric was viewed as a royal mistake. The journalist quickly apologized.Peter Morrison
LONDON - Succumbing to what appears to have been a disastrous urge to brag about his super-important connections, a BBC correspondent unexpectedly declared in a radio interview Tuesday that Queen Elizabeth had once told him she was "pretty upset" about the presence of a radical Islamist cleric in North London.
It is considered a shocking breach of etiquette to reveal what, if anything, the queen tells you, especially when it comes to political views, which she is technically not supposed to have. The BBC immediately issued an abject apology, saying that the correspondent, Frank Gardner, was completely out of line.
"The conversation should have remained private, and the BBC and Frank deeply regret this breach of confidence," the broadcaster said in a statement.
"It was wholly inappropriate. Frank is extremely sorry for the embarrassment caused and has apologized to the palace."
Buckingham Palace said it would not comment.
The episode occurred on the BBC Today program, an influential public-affairs morning radio show.
Gardner, the broadcaster's security correspondent, was speaking about Abu Hamza, an Egyptian cleric who settled in Britain and preached violent anti-British jihad at a mosque located in North London.
The British government has been trying for years to extradite Hamza to the United States, where he is wanted in connection with, among other things, trying to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon.
On Monday, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the extradition would not violate his human rights, a ruling that clears the way for Hamza's removal from Britain.
"Actually, I can tell you that the queen was pretty upset that there was no way to arrest him," he blurted out, speaking of the time some years ago when Hamza was still operating freely at the mosque. "She couldn't understand - surely there was some way to arrest him?"
The program's clearly shocked host, James Naughtie, then said, "That's a fascinating piece of information, Frank."
"Yes, I thought I'd drop that in," Gardner replied. "She told me."
"Drop it in?" Naughtie said.
"It's a corker."