Nicola Sturgeon says the late Queen asked for 'gossip' about Alex Salmond sex claims

The late Queen asked for "gossip" about the Alex Salmond sex allegations, Nicola Sturgeon claims.

Scotland's former first minister describes Queen Elizabeth II as "an incredible woman" in her new book called Frankly. In the memoir, she also tells how the monarch immediately asked for details about Mr Salmond when the women met at Balmoral Castle a few weeks after misconduct claims against him first emerged.

Claiming the Queen "loved a bit of gossip", Ms Sturgeon wrote in her autobiography: "She asked me about it almost as soon as I sat down. She wanted to know more of what was going on." In the book, officially released on Thursday, Ms Sturgeon also speaks about her "horror" and "shame" of her house being raided by police.

Describing herself as a republican "at heart and by instinct", Ms Sturgeon, 55, lavishes praise on the late Queen as "utterly fascinating" and "an incredible woman". She says she was "struck by the aura" she "exuded as she entered the room".

Although the 470-page book is officially released on Thursday, copies went on sale in branches of Waterstones across Scotland yesterday, with the company insisting no sales embargo was in place. However, the author is set to talk about the book at the Edinburgh Book Festival, which this year started on Saturday and ends on August 24.

Ms Sturgeon regularly enjoyed charming audiences with the Queen at Balmoral. The book reads: "She was always relaxed and chatty, and these sessions would typically last for around an hour."

But the encounter in September 2018 was off the back of claims surrounding Mr Salmond. It was alleged he asked a female staff member into his bedroom at Bute House before making sexual advances when he was First Minister in December 2013. In January 2019, Mr Salmond was charged with 14 offences, including attempted rape and sexual assault, but he was awarded compensation of £500,000 by the Scottish Government in August 2019 and later acquitted of all charges after trial in March 2020.

Ms Sturgeon assumed the monarch would not have mentioned the claims in September 2018, yet Queen Elizabeth did bring the matter up. Ms Sturgeon, who succeeded Mr Salmond as first minister, continued: "She asked me about it almost as soon as I sat down. She wasn’t being trivial in any way, she wanted to know more of what was going on. I think she was also trying to put me at ease... She also loved a bit of gossip. She always wanted to hear the stories behind the political headlines."

Mr Salmond, who died aged 69 last October, always considered himself something of a favourite of the Queen because of their mutual love of horseracing.