A claim by my fellow Mail columnist Craig Brown earlier this year that Queen Elizabeth found Donald Trump rude led him to claim that he was in fact “her favorite president.”
Now, however, I can confirm that our late monarch was indeed disrespectful to the US president-elect – and reveal what caused the offense.
A source involved in arranging Trump’s 2018 visit to this country with his wife Melania tells me the tycoon made a comment about the Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, who died in 2002 at the age of 71. age died.
“Trump put his foot in it by saying Margaret must have been a difficult sister,” the source said. ‘The Queen was very irritated by this comment, which she considered ignorant and hurtful. She always defended Margaret to the hilt.”
It is not clear why Trump made the alleged comment, but he may have prepared for his visit by watching the Netflix hit The Crown, which depicted Margaret as rebellious, volatile and angry at her older sister.
In the two series broadcast before Trump’s visit, Margaret’s decision not to marry Peter Townsend played a major role, with the Queen and her government opposing her wish to marry the divorced Group Captain flying ace, for which The monarch’s consent would have been required under the Royal Marriages Act. 1772.
Queen Elizabeth II and Donald Trump during commemorations for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings on Southsea Common, Portsmouth in 2019
Elizabeth II with Trump at Windsor Castle in July 2018. Trump once commented that Margaret must have been a ‘difficult’ sister, source says
Donald Trump and Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II inspect a guard of honor formed by the Coldstream Guards at Windsor Castle on July 13, 2018
The late Queen with Princess Margaret. A source said Elizabeth was “very annoyed” by Trump’s comment after she defended her sister to the hilt
In reality, a plan was made to change the law to allow the marriage, while removing Margaret and her children from the line of succession.
Craig Brown’s book, titled A Voyage Around The Queen, claims the late monarch confided to a guest that she “particularly disliked” the way Trump looked over her shoulder as if “looking for others who were more interesting”.
She also reportedly thought he must have “some sort of arrangement” with his wife after hosting him during one of his two visits.
Trump said the comments were “completely false.” He told the Mail: ‘I heard I was her favorite president. I had a great relationship with the Queen. She liked me and I liked her. She was a wonderful woman.”