Queen of England Drops 'Bomb' In EU Referendum Debate

It is becoming a familiar routine - the Queen drops a bomb into a hotbed of political argument, only for Buckingham Palace to insist the monarch is "above politics"; that anyone seeking a political message in her speech will be disappointed.Days before the Scottish referendum, the Queen suggested that people should "think very carefully" before casting their vote, a suggestion that was widely interpreted as urging the Scots not to do anything rash.
It was inevitable that a speech about the dangers of "division" in Europe would be seen as a shot across the bows of those arguing for the UK to leave the European Union, for all the Palace's protestations.
The timing makes the Queen's words particularly resonant, coming as they do on the eve of a European Council meeting at which David Cameron will lay out his proposed reforms to other European leaders.
Palace officials point out that the Queen was referring to Europe as a whole in exhorting leaders to avoid the dangers of division, and not the European Union alone.
As she spoke of the "common endeavour" of safeguarding the postwar inheritance, the Queen looked up and seemed pointedly to fix the political leaders, as though to say: "David, Angela - you know what to do."
As for the specifics of their common endeavour of ensuring the UK remains within a reformed European Union, the meeting in Brussels represents a key staging point.