I hid Queen Mother’s racism to protect her, says Sir Roy Strong

One of the most acerbic diarists of his generation has revealed that he excised references to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother’s racial prejudices.

Sir Roy Strong said that there was a “certain streak of me that was protective” and that he had not recorded the Queen Mother’s racism because it was “too awful”.

The former director of the National Portrait Gallery and Victoria and Albert Museum told the Hay Festival that “on the whole” he included all his observations and never rewrote them. Sir Roy, whose entries in his first two volumes have been described as waspish, added: “I am always protective of people who are close to me, who are friends. I revere the monarchy for all its faults.