Dominic Cummings 'warned Boris Johnson he could kill the Queen by infecting her with coronavirus'

Ben McCaffrey
Thu, 09 Apr 2026 13:37:00 +0000

Boris Johnson was warned by Dominic Cummings that he could "kill the Queen" by infecting her with coronavirus, it has been claimed.

The alleged incident occurred in March 2020, the month in which then-Prime Minister Johnson imposed a nationwide lockdown amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prime ministers usually hold a weekly audience with the monarch, which tends to occur on a Wednesday.

At the time, Mr Johnson had been attempting to organise his weekly audience with Queen Elizabeth II.

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However, in the lead-up to the meeting, senior advisors began panicking as the Prime Minister started to show symptoms of the highly infectious virus.

According to Robert Hardman, whose biography on Queen Elizabeth II was released today, Mr Johnson had been insistent on meeting the monarch.

That was until his chief adviser, Mr Cummings, stepped in, allegedly declaring: "You will kill the Queen!"

The excerpt, from Mr Hardman's biography of Queen Elizabeth II, may give a small insight into the relationship between the former monarch and Prime Minister.

Mr Johnson told GB News previously that his weekly meetings with the Queen were one of the "joys of the job".

"It was a kind of free psychotherapy, and there was no confession so appalling," he told the People's Channel in 2024.

"She’d heard it all before."

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He added the late monarch was "always very supportive" and "full of really good advice".

But despite this, in a book released by Tim Shipman later that year, the Queen was accused of calling Mr Johnson an "idiot" days before her death in 2022.

"Well, at least I won't have that idiot organising my funeral now," she is alleged to have said on September 6 - just two days before she died.

Mr Johnson dismissed the claim to GB News as "highly unlikely".

According to the author, the sentiment about the ex-Tory leader was "widely shared" within the royal household.

Mr Shipman also suggests she felt Mr Johnson was "perhaps better suited to the stage".

Queen Elizabeth II saw a record 15 prime ministers at the helm of the British government across her 70-year reign.