Donald Trump rejects claims Queen Elizabeth found him rude: 'I was her favourite president'
22 August 2024, 15:53 | Updated: 22 August 2024, 15:57
Donald Trump has rejected claims that the late Queen Elizabeth found him "very rude" during their meetings.
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The late monarch, who hosted Trump twice during her reign, is said to have made the remark during a conversation "weeks after" one of his visits, according to a new biography.
She is also understood to have "particularly disliked" the way he looked over her shoulder as though he was "in search of others more interesting".
But Trump has said that the claims are "totally false", insisting they had a "great relationship".
Speaking after a campaign rally in Asheboro, North Carolina, the former president said he spent hours with the Queen and they warmed to each other during their meetings.
"I heard I was her favourite president," Trump told the Daily Mail.
He said: "It was totally false. I have no idea who the writer is, but it was really just the opposite.
"I had a great relationship with the Queen. She liked me and I liked her."
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In the book, named A Voyage Around The Queen, author Craig Brown writes: "Over the course of her reign, Her Majesty entertained many controversial foreign leaders, including Bashar al-Assad, Robert Mugabe, Idi Amin, Donald Trump, Emperor Hirohito and Vladimir Putin.
"She may not have found their company convivial; upon their departure, she may even have voiced a discreet word of disapproval.
"A few weeks after President Trump's visit, for instance, she confided in one lunch guest that she found him 'very rude': she particularly disliked the way he couldn't stop looking over her shoulder, as though in search of others more interesting.
"She also believed President Trump 'must have some sort of arrangement' with his wife Melania, or else why would she have remained married to him?
"For his part, Donald Trump was confident he had been her favourite guest ever.
"'There are those that say they have never seen the Queen have a better time, a more animated time,' he later told America's Fox News."
The Queen first met Trump in 2018 - a year after he became president.
His visit caused a lot of controversy, with protesters taking to the streets in London and a giant balloon depicting him as a baby being given the green light to be floated across the capital.
As a result, it was classed as a "working visit" instead of a "state visit", meaning there was little pomp and pageantry and no state banquet.
The following year, Trump did get his official state visit. He also joined the Queen in Portsmouth to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
