Queen Elizabeth told the former Archbishop of Canterbury she couldn't "surrender" when he handed in his resignation to her.
Queen Elizabeth wouldn't surrender
Lord George Carey - who served in the post from 1991 to 2002 - recalled his conversation with the late monarch after he told her he was stepping down from his position, but despite her comments, he doesn't think she'd have ever wanted to relinquish the throne.
Speaking in new ITV documentary series 'The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor', Lord Carey said: “I remember going to see the Queen once to hand in my resignation and said: ‘Your Majesty, the time has come.’
“And she looked at me, more or less, she said: ‘You people come and go, I can’t resign, I can’t surrender - I’ve got to keep going.’
“And I said: ‘Well, the Lord tells me at the age of 70 I’ve got to go.’ But she would never go anyway.”
The former church leader - who took part in the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997 - also told of meeting Queen Consort Camilla in secret in Peckham, south London, during the early days of her relationship with King Charles, and he recalled being "really struck" by her and the "deep" love she had for the royal.
Lord Carey hopes he helped to pave the way for the couple's marriage because he was so supportive of their union.
He said: “She walked through the front door, we met and had coffee together and I was really struck by her.
“Very nice looking lady, very presentable, very intelligent, we had a really animated conversation.
“And we talked about her relationship with Charles, going way back to when they were teenagers and so on. And after she left, I said: ‘Well, there’s no way I could ever treat her as other than a really nice human being who’s deeply in love with Charles.’
“And that affected me in talking to other people behind the scenes and I hoped it had a way forward – I think it did.”
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