BBC Apologizes to Queen Elizabeth Over Radical Cleric Leak

Britain's BBC apologized to Queen Elizabeth on Tuesday after a senior journalist reported her private views about one of the country's best known terrorism suspects, an embarrassing disclosure for a monarch who avoids public political statements.

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner broadcast details of a private conversation with the queen during which she supposedly told him she had complained to the last government about radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri.
The queen was said to be upset that Britain had not arrested him after he preached fiery anti-Western sermons outside a mosque in London after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

That was awkward for a head of state who has no political or executive role and is expected to stay neutral in public. The queen has never given a media interview and typically avoids controversial topics in her speeches.