Establishment hostility to Catholicism is not as distant as people might think. During Lord (William) Waldegrave’s time as a Foreign Office Minister – 1988-90 – the then head of Her Majesty’s Diplomatic Service came into his office to raise an “embarrassing personal matter”. In his memoirs, A Different Kind of Weather, Lord Waldegrave explains: “What on earth had the spies discovered about me? ‘I am sorry to have to tell you that His Holiness the Pope has awarded you the order of St Gregory the Great First Class. Luckily we classify his Holiness as a temporal power, so under Queen Elizabeth’s rules we were able to refuse this embarrassment for you.’”He was referring to Elizabeth I, who banned diplomats accepting foreign dec
26 February 2015, The Tablet
Victim of the Virgin Queen
Get Instant Access
Continue Reading
Register for free to read this article in full
Subscribe for unlimited access
From just £30 quarterly
Complete access to all Tablet website content including all premium content.
The full weekly edition in print and digital including our 179 years archive.
PDF version to view on iPad, iPhone or computer.
Already a subscriber? Login