Have you ever read someone’s Wiki because you know who they are vaguely but you just want to double-check? And then when you read their page, you’re like “holy sh-t, this person’s life is bonkers”? So it was for me as I read Conrad Black’s Wiki page. He was a newspaper publisher in the UK, Canada, US and Israel, but he sold off most of those holdings over the years. In 2007, he was convicted for fraud in American court, and eventually his conviction was pardoned… by Donald Trump. Seriously, this man’s Wiki is crazy. Anyway, this story is about Conrad Black and his thoughts on Queen Elizabeth, which he shared because he’s, like, a columnist and writer now. Black was a Canadian, but he gave up his Canadian citizenship to become a British peer. He sort of knows the Queen… and he is not impressed with her whatsoever.
Disgraced media mogul Conrad Black has form for criticising the Queen. And even now, as the nation prepares to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee, the former jailbird has targeted the 95-year-old by saying she ‘lacks charm’, is ‘not a spectacular monarch’ and ‘not a riveting public speaker’, nor a ‘great innovator’.
Lord Black, 77, even likened her legacy to a departing big top act. ‘Though she has not been a spectacular monarch, this Queen’s achievement will be like that of a great circus performer whose talents are best appreciated after departing the stage,’ says Black.
Despite praising the Queen’s seven-decade tenure as ‘one of selfless and unpretentious duty’, he says she has lacked charm. ‘The Queen is not a riveting public speaker and has not been a great innovator,’ he writes in an article for Canada’s National Post.
This is not the first time that Canadian-born Black, who was released from a U.S. jail in 2012 after serving three years for fraud, has turned his opprobrium on the Queen. As disclosed in this column a few weeks ago, he vented his disapproval of her ‘abandonment’ of Prince Andrew after it was announced that her son would fight his sexual assault charges as a private citizen. Black declared that he thought it was a ‘disgrace’ for the monarch ‘to have withdrawn from him all the dignities exercised ex-official for centuries by the second son of the reigning monarch’.
The former Telegraph owner, who was pardoned by President Trump in 2019, balanced his critique of Her Majesty with glowing praise. He wrote: ‘She was never a swashbuckling, rabble-rousing or otherwise proselytising monarchist, but she has steadily surmounted all the ostensible demotions and trivialisations of the monarchy over the past 70 years.’
I’m assuming, given Conrad Black’s age and general smarminess, that he probably partied with Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein regularly back in the day and that’s why he was so upset that Andrew had his big shiny military medals taken away for rape and human trafficking. But what he says about the Queen is… interesting. I truly wonder if, when all is said and done on Liz’s reign, the more general read on it will be that she was a grim, tone-deaf, charmless woman who raised a family of back-stabbers, abusers and petty-ass soap opera characters. There are definitely going to be some “the emperor has no clothes” takes on this, I think.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid and Getty.
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London, United Kingdom. State Opening of Parliament. Royal Gallery.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, accompanied by Prince Charles, walks through the Royal Gallery before delivering her speech at the State Opening of Parliament.,Image: 539313887, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – [email protected] London: 44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: 1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: 49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 11: Queen Elizabeth II ahead of the Queen’s Speech in the House of Lord’s Chamber during the State Opening of Parliament at the House of Lords on May 11, 2021 in London, England.,Image: 610288342, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Chris Jackson / Avalon
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- The Queen stands with President Biden and the first lady Jill as they view the ranks of a Guard of Honour formed of The Queen’s Company First Battalion Grenadier Guards during a visit to Windsor castle.,Image: 615497630, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: RICHARD POHLE / Avalon
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- Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, Patron, attends a Service of Thanksgiving to mark the Centenary of the Royal British Legion at Westminster Abbey, in London, Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021.,Image: 637732700, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WPA SOLO POOL. AP PA AFP REUTERS GETTY IPA CPNA IN, Model Release: no, Credit line: Frank Augstein / Avalon
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- Queen Elizabeth II records her annual Christmas broadcast in the White Drawing Room in Windsor Castle, Berkshire. Issue date: Thursday December 23, 2021 The photograph on the desk is of The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, taken in 2007 at Broadlands, Hampshire, to mark their Diamond Wedding Anniversary.,Image: 649254904, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon [email protected] London 44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles 1 310 822 0419 Berlin 49 30 76 212 251 Madrid 34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- Queen Elizabeth II cuts a cake to celebrate the start of the Platinum Jubilee during a reception in the Ballroom of Sandringham House, which is the Queen’s Norfolk residence. The Queen came to the throne 70 years ago this Sunday when, on February 6 1952, the ailing King George VI – who had lung cancer – died at Sandringham in the early hours.,Image: 659601877, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Joe Giddens / Avalon
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- Queen Elizabeth II cuts a cake to celebrate the start of the Platinum Jubilee during a reception in the Ballroom of Sandringham House, which is the Queen’s Norfolk residence. The Queen came to the throne 70 years ago this Sunday when, on February 6 1952, the ailing King George VI – who had lung cancer – died at Sandringham in the early hours.,Image: 659602010, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Joe Giddens / Avalon
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- Queen Elizabeth II leaves Sandringham House, which is the Queen’s Norfolk residence, after a reception with representatives from local community groups to celebrate the start of the Platinum Jubilee. The Queen came to the throne 70 years ago this Sunday when, on February 6 1952, the ailing King George VI – who had lung cancer – died at Sandringham in the early hours.,Image: 659635986, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Joe Giddens / Avalon
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- 113995, Kristy Swanson attends the 5th Annual QVC Red Carpet Style held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles on Thursday February, 13, 2014. Photograph: © Pacific Coast News. Los Angeles Office: 1 310.822.0419 London Office: 44 208.090.4079 [email protected] FEE MUST BE AGREED PRIOR TO USAGE,Image: 529333430, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS, DIRECT SALES ONLY UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE IN CAPTION – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – [email protected] London: 44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: 1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: 49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: 34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: PacificCoastNews / Avalon
