A ROYAL photographer has revealed he was there when the late Queen made her infamous “think carefully” comment ahead of the 2014 Scottish referendum.
Jim Bennett, who has been snapping the royal family for years, appeared on The Sun’s Royal Exclusive show and lifted the lid on the iconic moment.
The Queen said before the high-profile vote that she hoped “people will think very carefully about the future“.
The remark was made to a member of the public outside a church near her Balmoral estate, in Aberdeenshire, who had joked they weren’t going to mention the upcoming referendum.
Speaking to The Sun’s Royal Editor Matt Wilkinson, Jim shared that typically the only photos of the royals visiting Crathie Kirk church are car photos as photographers aren’t allowed to take snaps at the top of the hill outside the church.
He said a Scottish police officer in plainclothes had told him: “I’ve been sent down to take you two to the top of the hill to do a picture of the Queen because she’s going to do a walkabout.”
And I said to him, “The Queen never does walkabouts at church services”, to which the officer replied: “Today’s a different day. She’s going to do a walkabout, and she wants the photographers to record it.”
Jim continued: “For some unknown reason, she walked past the car, walked over to the crowd, a beeline.
“She knew exactly where she was going to talk to somebody in the crowd.
“We think it was something that she wanted to do.
“She made sure she got as much publicity here. I’ve never known it before.”
The Queen’s comment had followed reports that Her Majesty was growing increasingly concerned about the vote.
Typically members of the royal family have to remain politically neutral, but officials insisted her comment didn’t breach her constitutional impartiality.
At the time, Buckingham Palace issued a statement which read: “The sovereign’s constitutional impartiality is an established principle of our democracy and one which the Queen has demonstrated throughout her reign.
“As such, the monarch is above politics and those in political office have a duty to ensure this remains the case.
“Any suggestion that the Queen would wish to influence the outcome of the current referendum campaign is categorically wrong. Her Majesty is simply of the view this is a matter for the people of Scotland.”
The BBC‘s royal correspondent Peter Hunt said at the time: “This wasn’t a slip of the tongue by the head of state of the United Kingdom – rather a reflection of how seriously, she like many others, views the significance of Thursday’s vote.”
The vote took place on September 18, 2014, with the official question being “Should Scotland be an independent country?”
She knew exactly where she was going to talk to somebody in the crowd. We think it was something that she wanted to do.
Jim Bennett
The “No” side won with 2,001,926 (55.3 per cent) votes, compared to 1,617,989 (44.7 per cent) voting in favour.
The vote had a turnout of 84.6 per cent was the highest recorded for an election or referendum in the United Kingdom since the January 1910 general election, which was held before the introduction of universal suffrage.
IT may surprise you that all royals are able to vote but choose not to.
The Royal Family are expected to be above politics and as such voluntarily refrain from casting votes.
Everyone in the line of succession needs to remain politically neutral.
The King remaining neutral is beneficial to MPs because, no matter which political party holds the majority in parliament, it is considered His Majesty’s government.
