I was put on alert for Queen’s funeral on the day she met Liz Truss, Johnson Beharry reveals
TWO months ago today Queen Elizabeth II stoically conducted her final official engagement, meeting both Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
On the same day, September 6, Victoria Cross hero Johnson Beharry has revealed that he received an email from royal officials — which he presumed was protocol — asking about his availability in the event of Her Majesty’s death.
Then 24 hours later he received a follow-up call. And the next day it was announced the Queen had died.
It gives an astonishing insight into how close to the end Her Majesty was when she bravely decided to soldier on and appoint a new PM.
Johnson, 43, who won Britain’s highest military honour for bravery in Iraq, knew about Operation London Bridge — the plan for after her death — and had previously “informally” agreed to be part of it.
In his first interview since she died, he told The Sun on Sunday: “Her Majesty was like a gran to me.
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“Without the Queen I wouldn’t have the life I have now.
"I always knew about Operation London Bridge as a member of the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association.
“I was told very vaguely that there was a possibility I would personally be involved, years ago.
"I was never told in detail. It was very informal.
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“Two days before Her Majesty’s passing, I had an email asking me if I could confirm that I’m definitely available if Operation London Bridge happens. I never replied.
“The following day I had a phone call saying, ‘We need you to confirm, yes or no, you’re happy to go through with it if Operation London Bridge happened’.
"I said, ‘I’ll do anything you need me to’. I left it like that.
“The next day she died. I thought it was simply them updating the process.”
In the heartfelt interview, Johnson, who ended up playing an important role in the Queen’s funeral, told how his entrance to the historic service made US President Joe Biden wait.
He added: “I didn’t know the President was behind me. I thought it was my minder.”
Johnson, who serves with the 1st Battalion Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, fought back tears as he talked to her casket in a private moment days before the funeral.
The Queen’s last official engagement with incoming leader Liz Truss was where the final picture of the frail monarch was taken.
PRIVATE MOMENT
On September 7, a virtual meeting with the Privy Council was postponed on her doctor’s orders.
She died at 3.10pm the following day.
Johnson was 25 when he first met the Queen in 2005, when he was awarded the Victoria Cross for two acts of heroism in Iraq, when he saved around 30 comrades, suffering life-threatening brain injuries.
He said: “Meeting Her Majesty at Buckingham Palace was the scariest day of my life.
"I would have preferred to have been in Iraq being shot at again. I never dreamed I would ever meet the Queen.
“She said to me, ‘You are a very special person, I don’t get to do this very often’.
"She asked me about the injury. She told me, ‘These things don’t heal overnight. It will take a long time’.
“The conversation was always about how my family were doing.
"I met her more times than I can count and she was always interested in how I was feeling and coping.
“Every time, she was genuinely concerned for me. She would always compare Prince George and my son Aidan, who are the same age.
“She never called me Johnson. She always called me Beharry. I lost my gran in 2003.
"Her Majesty was like a gran replacement for me and the way I was treated, the respect and communication was like no one else.”
Johnson recalled learning she had died: “I got goosebumps.
"It didn’t sink in until I saw King Charles outside the Palace and people starting singing, ‘God save the King’ that Her Majesty had gone.”
Three days before the funeral, he and his wife Mallissa were invited to share a private moment while the Queen was lying in state.
He said: “I was trying hard to hold it together. I could feel my chest getting tight and feeling heavy. I was choking up.
COULD'T GET THE WORDS OUT
"It was very, very emotional. I paid my respect and spoke to her.
“I told her, ‘Thank you for your service and thank you for everything you did for me. I will serve your country until I die.
"Without the VC, which you gave me, I would not be where I am today’.”
Johnson stayed up all night before the funeral as he prepared his uniform for the big day.
On arriving at Westminster Abbey for the funeral, he said: “I was pushing Keith Payne VC, who is in a wheelchair.
"I was just trying to keep calm. Then it was time to go in.
"We got to the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, which gave me goosebumps. It was at that moment that it hit me.
“My last big event was at the Unknown Warrior when I laid a wreath with Her Majesty for the First World War veterans. I walked past the casket and it was strong emotions the whole way through.
“I also realised that the last time I’d seen the Queen was in Westminster Abbey, when I did a reading in front of her exactly a year ago for the Royal British Legion.”
He added: “I tried to sing the hymns but I couldn’t get the words out.
“I was so focused on the magnitude of the day that I didn’t even know the US President was behind me, just six feet away.
“After the funeral finished, we started chatting about the amount of security.
"Someone said, ‘Do you know who was walking behind you in the Abbey?’
“I was like, ‘Yeah, the guy was my minder’. They said, ‘No, that was the President of the United States’.
“I had no idea. I was told by senior people that he was upset he had to be stopped for me to walk past.
"I was not aware at the time but I was told he was not a happy bunny when they stopped him. I know it wasn’t personal.
“I feel very privileged to have been there at the funeral.”
Next week Johnson will be at the Cenotaph with his regiment to mark Remembrance Sunday.
At the forefront of his mind will be the woman he looked up to “like a gran”.
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He said: “I will be thinking of her and saying thank you for everything you did for me and all of us.
"I will serve the country the Queen served so well until the day I die.”
I BRASSED OFF BIDEN IN ABBEY
THIS is the moment Johnson forced Joe Biden to wait, leaving the President “not a happy bunny”.
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The soldier fought back tears as he entered the abbey, pushing Vietnam War veteran Keith Payne VC’s wheelchair.
Johnson said: “I was told by senior people that he was upset he had to be stopped for me to walk past.”
PERSONAL THANKS AT REMEMBRANCE
JOHNSON BEHARRY will be at the Cenotaph with his regiment to mark Remembrance Sunday next weekend.
The Colour Sergeant, who in 2005 received the Victoria Cross from the Queen for his heroic service in Iraq, will be recalling just what she meant to him and the nation.
He said: “I will be thinking of her and saying thank you for everything you did for me and all of us.
“I will serve the country the Queen served so well until the day I die.”
Starting at 11am, Sunday’s London service will commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women involved in the two world wars and later conflicts.
In total, 10,000 veterans are expected to march past the Cenotaph, with leading members of the Royal Family also attending.