‘Timidity is a virus’: Paul Keating fights the fading of the light as he seeks to enshrine his legacy

Paul Keating: ‘My view of the country was bigger than the country’s view of itself, but the vision will never deteriorate.’ Photograph: Sitthixay Ditthavong/AAP

Queen Elizabeth II met Paul Keating “alone, to her credit” in what the prime minister was informed was her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria’s favourite room at Balmoral Castle.

“And I took some pleasure in explaining the furniture to her,” Keating recalls, an old elan breaking through.