reporter revealed the monarch was "pretty upset" that British
officials had failed to arrest radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza
al-Masri.
Usually private conversations with members of Britain's royal family
remain private. But in an extraordinary breach of this convention on
BBC Radio 4, security correspondent Frank Gardner said the queen told
him she had asked a government official why Hamza remained at large
during his days as the imam of a mosque in London.
The revelation that the queen had personally lobbied a government
official over Hamza, convicted in Britain for soliciting murder and
inciting hatred in 2006, came as Gardner was discussing Hamza's
probable extradition to the U.S. on terror charges.
Speaking to Today program host James Naughtie, Gardner said:
"Actually, I can tell you that the queen was pretty upset that he was,
this man was, there was no way to arrest him.
She couldn't understand why – surely there must have been some law he
must have broken. Well in the end, sure enough there was. He was
eventually convicted and sentenced for 7 years for soliciting murder
and inciting racial hatred."
Naughtie, clearly taken aback by Gardner's revelation of a private
conversation he'd had with the queen, called the disclosure a "corker"
and said, "That's a fascinating piece of information, Frank." Gardner
replied: "Yes, I thought I'd drop that in – she told me."
Garnder said: "She spoke to the home secretary at the time and said,
'surely this man must have broken some laws, why is he still at
large?'"
The queen rarely expresses her opinions – let alone political views –
in public. Her role is to stay above politics, so Gardner's disclosure
is a rare insight into how she privately engaged with Britain's
government on a specific subject.
CNN's Royal Correspondent Max Foster says the convention for anyone
meeting the queen at a palace event is that the conversation is
private. He said: "If you accept the invitation, you accept that
anything said is off the record."
In a statement on its website, the BBC wrote: "This morning on the
Today programme our correspondent Frank Gardner revealed details of a
private conversation which took place some years ago with the Queen."
"The conversation should have remained private and the BBC and Frank
deeply regret this breach of confidence. It was wholly inappropriate.
Frank is extremely sorry for the embarrassment caused and has
apologised to the Palace."
When reached for a comment, a Buckingham Palace spokesman told CNN:
"We never comment on private conversations."