Downing Street Says

Asked if the situation surrounding the Royal Family s attendance at the D-day commemoration echoed the situation surrounding the Cabinet reshuffle, the PMS said that that was not the case. It was not for us to start making announcements about Royal Family members. What we had said this morning and what the Prime Minister had said yesterday was that if the Queen or other members of the Royal Family were able or wanted to go to D-Day commemorations, then he would ensure that that happened. Announcements had to be made in the proper way by the Palace about attendance and until those announcements had been made, we had to explain what the current position was.

Asked if the Government would take any blame over the invitation chaos, the PMS said that the invitation had come from the French government, so any questions on invitations should be addressed to them. We had always made clear that we would be happy to facilitate whatever the Royal Family wanted to do.

Put that the Government had said that the Royal Family were content with the arrangements as they stood before it was announced that the Prince of Wales was attending, the PMS said that the Royal Family had been consulted throughout this process and they had always made clear that they were content with the arrangements as they currently stood.

Asked whether they had told Downing Street why they had changed their minds, the PMS said he would not get into the specifics of any conversations between the Palace and No10. We welcomed the invitation that had been extended to the Royal Family to attend and we welcomed the decision by the Prince of Wales to represent the Queen in Normandy on the 6th June.

Asked whether Downing Street had contacted the Palace after this morning s lobby briefing, the PMS said that we stayed in contact with the Palace and the Royal households on a regular basis, but he would not accept the premise of what seemed to be suggested in the question.

Asked if the Prime Minister had any engagements tonight, the PMS said that the Prime Minister did not have any public engagements.

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» Tuesday, June 2, 2009

D-Day

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