Pierre Trudeau was in London, England on this date in 1984 where he was attending that year’s G7 Summit. This was Trudeau’s final G7 meeting and he went out with a bang. Joined by French President François Mitterrand, Trudeau clashed with Cold War conservatives Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. President Reagan described the confrontation in his diary.
“Another briefing breakfast 8:30 A.M,” he wrote, “then back to Lancaster House. The morning meeting went long—more protests by Pierre & Francois. We didn’t get to lunch until 2 P.M. There was blood on the floor—but not ours. As usual, Margaret, Helmut (Kohl), Yasu (Nakasone) & I stayed together & for the most part prevailed.”
Ever the optimist, however, the U.S. President also highlighted a state dinner for the leaders that had been hosted by Her Majesty the Queen.
“It was a good summit & we did make progress on trade matters, East-West, plans if the Iran-Iraq War creates an oil crisis & agreements on 3rd world matters & handling the tremendous international debt. We were further delayed in getting to Guild Hall for the finale—the presentation of statements to the press, by 40,000 anti-nuke demonstrators who fouled up traffic. Before leaving we displayed a model of our proposed space station & I extended an invitation to all of them to join us. Into black tie & on to Buckingham for the dinner given by the Queen. It was a very nice affair and an experience to be in that historic palace dining with the Royal family & others. I was between the Queen & the Queen Mother who is a delightful person. Across the table was Nancy between Prince Phillip & Prince Charles. And so the Summit ends.”
Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.