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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Gavin Cordon

No 10 apology over John Major’s birthday message to the Queen Mother

John Major No 10 Queen Elizabeth II Blair Downing St Downing Street
The Queen Mother (PA) - (PA Archive)

Downing Street had to issue a grovelling apology after prime minister John Major’s birthday telegram to the Queen Mother was addressed in an “improper manner”, according to newly-released government files.

Papers released to the National Archives in Kew, west London, show the Queen Mother’s private secretary Captain Sir Alastair Aird telephoned No 10 demanding an explanation as to why the 1994 birthday greeting had been “incorrectly addressed”.

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