Boris Johnson's 'manly pep talk' with Prince Harry wasn't the first time prime ministers advised the royals during a crisis: how John Major advised Charles and Diana – and Stanley Baldwin clashed with Edward VIII

Boris Johnson's revelation that he gave Prince Harry a “manly pep talk” to try to convince him not to quit life in the UK may not surprise seasoned royal watchers.

For it was just the latest example of prime ministers being asked to offer advice to members of the royal family in times of personal crisis.

In the Netflix series The Crown, the late Queen is seen asking then-Prime Minister John Major to intervene in the disintegrating marriage of Charles and Diana.

Cricket-mad Sir John, played by Jonny Lee Miller, agrees to act as “referee” for the couple.

In reality, he did not officially serve as a mediator, although he reportedly offered “support and advice.”

In his biography of Sir John, Anthony Seldon writes that the Prime Minister offered the couple advice but it was of “no use”.

When it became clear that the marriage was “untenable”, his main concern became the “constitutional position”, given Charles's status as a future monarch and the fact that if the couple did not divorce, Diana would still be queen upon her accession.

In another scene, Sir John was shown speaking to Charles about the possibility of his mother abdicating.

In October 2022, the real John Major released a statement condemning his portrayal in The Crown.

“The discussions between the monarch and the Prime Minister are entirely private and none of the scenes you describe are accurate in any way. They are pure and simple fiction.

In 1955, Elizabeth II's second Prime Minister, Anthony Eden, had to intervene directly when it seemed possible that the Queen's younger sister, Princess Margaret, would marry a divorced man.

Peter Townsend was a former Battle of Britain pilot and had served as equerry to Margaret's father, George VI, and, for a short time, to Queen Elizabeth.

In 1952, he divorced his wife for adultery and wanted to marry the princess.

The Queen should have given him permission to marry under the terms of the Royal Marriages Act of 1772.

Her first Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and the Anglican Church, which opposed divorce, urged her not to do so.

Instead, Margaret and Townsend were asked to wait two years until the Princess was 25, an age at which, by law, she could choose to marry herself, even if the Queen had refused the permission.

This of course would have created a huge public scandal, so Eden, himself divorced and remarried, found a solution.

This was to change the law on royal marriages so that the Queen would not have to give permission.

Margaret could then marry Townsend, retain her royal title, her civil roll payment, and a home in this country.

The only condition would be that she renounces her place in the royal line of succession (as well as that of any children resulting from the marriage).

In the end, Margaret decided not to marry Townsend and Eden's planned revision of the law was never necessary.

Boris Johnson said in his new memoir, Unleashed, that his “manly pep talk” to persuade Harry to stay was “completely unnecessary”.

But when Sir Winston was in his second term as prime minister, he had more success urging a senior royal official not to abandon the family business.

The Queen Mother had been widowed aged just 51 on the death of George VI and suffered a crisis of confidence, believing that she would no longer need her daughter and her dynamic husband, the Duke of 'Edinburgh.

Churchill was staying at Balmoral as a guest of Elizabeth II and asked to see the Queen Mother, who was at nearby Birkhall.

After the visit on October 2, 1952, the Queen Mother wrote to her friend Lord Salisbury that the Prime Minister “was absolutely charming and very interesting, and I suddenly realized how cut off I was from 'inside' information.”

The old warhorse persuaded the grieving queen that she still had a vital role to play in the monarchy.

Her lady-in-waiting, Jean Rankin, noted how her boss had pulled himself together after the visit.

“I think he must have said things that made her realize how important it was for her to continue, how much people wanted her to do things the way she used to.”

While Churchill and Boris were recruited to urge a member of the royal family to continue playing their role in the family business, a previous prime minister had advised the exact opposite.

When Edward VIII, King and Emperor, announced his intention to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-married American socialite, his Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin strongly objected.

Baldwin warned the king that the British public would under no circumstances accept the idea of ​​a twice-divorced American as queen, and that the prime ministers of the Dominions, on behalf of their territories, felt the same way.

Edward decided to push for a morganatic marriage so he could marry Wallis, meaning she would never be queen, merely his consort.

This idea was vetoed by Baldwin, who also blocked Edward's announcement that he wanted to broadcast directly to his people via the BBC to explain the situation and remind listeners “I am still the same man whose motto was Ich Dien, I serve.”

Baldwin, horrified, declared that this was constitutionally improper and would divide the nation.

Edward then realized that he had no choice but to leave, and so he broadcast to the nation to deliver his abdication speech.

Baldwin had firmly steered Edward on the path of abdication and exile.

So even though Baldwin won handily, Boris Johnson wasn't so lucky when he came up against an equally stubborn senior royal determined to have his way.