Dominic Cummings says he intervened to protect the Queen from Boris—'You can't risk that'

Dominic Cummings has claimed he helped to protect the Queen after Boris Johnson's 'insane' plan to visit her in a bombshell new interview. 

• Dominic Cummings has claimed that he protected the Queen from Boris Johnson, after warning the Prime Minister against visiting her at the beginning of the pandemic. 
• The former political aide has told the BBC that Mr Johnson planned to go ahead with his weekly audience meeting with the Queen in March 2020, despite the rising COVID-19 cases. 
• In other royal news, Duchess Camilla jokes about Queen's cake cutting incident as fans praise her 'naughty’ side.
  

Dominic Cummings has taken aim at Boris Johnson in a recent interview, alleging that the Prime Minister intended to see the Queen face-to-face at the beginning of the pandemic. 

Speaking with the BBC, the former No 10 advisor claimed to have warned Mr Johnson not to visit Her Majesty at Buckingham Palace for their weekly audience in March 2020. According to Cummings, the Prime Minister had initially failed to see the issue of continuing his meetings with the Queen—who, at 95, falls in one of the highest risk categories to develop serious illness from COVID-19. 

"I said, 'What are you doing?' And he said, 'I'm going to see the Queen,' and I said, 'What on earth are you talking about? Of course you can't go and see the Queen'," the ex-political strategist told Laura Kuenssberg in a preview clip from the upcoming BBC News Special, Dominic Cummings: The Interview. 

The alleged exchange took place on 18 March 2020, five days before Britain entered its first lockdown. 

"He said, 'That's what I do every Wednesday. Sod this, I'm going to go see her'," Cummings continued. 

"I said to him, 'There's people in this office who are isolating, you might have coronavirus, I might have coronavirus, you can't go and see the Queen. What if you go and see her and give the Queen coronavirus? You obviously can't go.'" 

Cummings claimed he then reminded Mr Johnson of the potential for the Queen to die if the weekly audience went ahead, adding, "'You can't risk that, that's completely insane'." 

It was only at this moment, according to Cummings, that the Prime Minister reconsidered his plans: "He said—he basically just hadn't thought it through—he said, 'Yeah, holy sh*t, I can't go'." 

Downing St has denied the claims made by Cummings, while Buckingham Palace has declined to comment. 

On 27 March 2020, Mr Johnson announced he had tested positive for coronavirus and was self-isolating. The Queen, who fortunately did not contract the illness, moved into Windsor Castle with the late Prince Philip to self-isolate on 19 March 2020. She resumed her face-to-face weekly audiences with the Prime Minister on 23 June 2021, after fifteen months of virtual meetings. 

What are the Queen's weekly audiences? 

The Queen has been conducting weekly audiences with the British Prime Minster every Wednesday since she became Head of State in 1952. The private meetings, which usually last about 20 minutes, give Her Majesty the opportunity to keep up-to-date with all important national matters. Advisors and media are typically not present in the room during the conversation, meaning everything said is entirely confidential.