Paul Hogan on meeting the Queen and why she apologised to him: Crocodile Dundee

Legendary Australian actor Paul Hogan has reflected on the controversial moment when he met the Queen wearing nothing but a cropped flannel shirt and shorts after performing a show – and how she apologized to him for turning down his offer before dinner.

The Crocodile Dundee star sat down for an interview with A Current Affair presenter Tracy Grimshaw – her last before leaving Nine’s flagship program after 17 years.

It comes as Hogan, 83, is releasing a new book, Australia According to Hoges, which is being described as a “love letter to Down Under.”

Grimshaw put forward a photo from Hogan’s book Meeting the Queen after performing at the Royal Charity Concert at the Sydney Opera House in 1980.

Legendary Australian actor and comedian Paul Hogan famously met the Queen and Prince Philip at the Sydney Opera House in 1980, wearing a cropped flannel, stubbies and socks

When they met, Hogan pulled a cropped flannel shirt, blunt shorts and footy socks.

“I love that shot,” the comedian said. “I’ve had a lot of criticism about that, but the Queen didn’t mind.”

Hogan has said in previous interviews that “everyone was shocked” by what he was wearing that night when he met the royals – with the exception of the Queen.

In an interview with Jonesy and Amanda in 2020, he explained that it was his “summer work uniform.”

“The stubbies and the ripped shirt were the standard uniform of builders (and) workers in the 1970s,” he joked.

Hogan (pictured) was reflected in his time meeting Her Majesty in a special interview with A Current Affair’s Tracy Grimshaw

Paul Hogan is pictured with his second wife Linda Kozlowski during Carousel Ball 2000 in Beverly Hills, California, United States. The couple divorced in 2014 after 25 years

Hogan told Grimshaw that the late Queen had apologized to him during that same meeting after she “won” a prize for dining at his house.

“The show we did at the Opera House to entertain her, part of what I did was pretend to pull the prize for the lucky seat,” he said.

“I pulled out two names, obviously the Queen and Philip, and said the prize they won was dinner with me, and told them how to get there, which bus to take and all that sort of thing – was all funny.’

“But when I met her, she leaned over and said, ‘I’m sorry honey, I don’t think we can make food,’ which is great, she has a sense of humor.”

Hogan also elaborated on his chronic health struggles, revealing that he had lost a lot of weight and was being “roped in.”

Hogan now lives in California in the US with his son Chance (pictured together)

To this day Crocodile Dundee is Australia’s most commercially successful film of all time

“I had a problem with the aorta and the kidney and the treatment resolved it, but it made me smaller,” he said.

The Aussie explained that he had lost all of his body fat and that his muscles ‘shrunk’ leaving him weak.

Hogan claimed he was “fit” until he was 79 years old, but began to deteriorate rapidly after he turned 80.

“I’d still knock out most 40-year-olds when I turned 80 and there’s a saying that turning 80 isn’t for sissies because things are starting to fall apart, but no, I can’t complain.”

Hogan now lives in California in the US with his son Chance.