First lady Nancy Reagan — who was no fan of Barbara Bush — personally removed Vice President George H.W. Bush and his wife from the guest list for the 1985 royal visit by Prince Charles and Lady Diana, according to a new book.
USA Today’s DC bureau chief Susan Page offers the tidbit in her upcoming “The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty,” according to Axios, which obtained an advance copy.
A draft of the guest list for the Nov. 9, 1985, dinner, one of the biggest social events of the Reagan presidency, shows the Bush names marked as deleted.
In another portion of the book, Page describes the time a hippo appeared ready to charge Barbara Bush while she was on a photo safari with two granddaughters in Kenya.
While the Secret Service debated whether to move her out of the way, she stood her ground.
“I think she thought she could out-intimidate the hippopotamus,” recalls financier and philanthropist David Rubenstein, who also was on the trip.
The hippo eventually retreated.
Page interviewed over 100 people for the book, which is due out April 2, including both Presidents Bush, first lady Laura Bush, President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, as well as many other family members, friends and colleagues.
She met with Barbara Bush five times, talked with her for hours and was allowed to read all of her diaries, which go back to 1948.
Her final entry was 12 days before her death a year ago at age 92.
Barbara Bush also suggested a title for Page’s biography: “The Fat Lady Sings Again.”