Donald Trump has vehemently denied claims that Queen Elizabeth II thought the former president was “very rude” after he visited Britain during his presidency.
The upcoming book Q: A Voyage Around The Queen, written by the late monarch’s biographer Craig Brown and excerpted by the Daily Mail in Britain, offers readers a glimpse into the deeply private monarch’s beliefs.
Brown recounts that the queen regularly met and “entertained many controversial leaders” during her 70-year reign. One of these, he notes, was the then-President Trump. Brown claims that Queen Elizabeth II thought Trump was “rude” and that he “must have an arrangement” with his wife, Melania Trump, to maintain their marriage.
Now speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, Trump has denied these claims, saying he heard that he “was her favorite president.”
Newsweek emailed Buckingham Palace for comment on Thursday.
Chris Jackson-WPA Pool/Getty Images
“It was totally false. I have no idea who the writer is, but it was really just the opposite,” Trump told the publication after a campaign rally in Asheboro, North Carolina.
“I had a great relationship with the queen. She liked me and I liked her. I spoke to her often, and I spoke to her in particular when I was there.”
Trump said he felt like Brown was using his name to try and promote his book, saying he and the late queen spent hours together at a state dinner.
“She said it to friends of mine that ‘President Trump was my favorite president,'” he said
“And then you have this guy looking for some publicity for a book that probably is phony, and a lot of other ways too. Now I know nothing about him. I have no idea who he is.”
Trump also claimed he had an “unbelievable relationship” with Queen Elizabeth II, calling her “an amazing woman.”
Trump had multiple meetings with the queen while he was president and in 2018 he and the then-first lady received an invitation to have tea with the monarch at Windsor Castle. The following year Trump was invited to take part in an official state visit to Britain where he and the Trump family were ceremonially welcomed and hosted at Buckingham Palace by the queen and members of the royal family, being guest of honor at a state banquet.
While the monarch refrained from publicly disclosing her personal opinions about the high-profile people she met, Brown asserts that she was anything but favorable about Trump.
“A few weeks after President Trump’s visit, she confided in a lunch guest that she found him ‘very rude,'” he wrote. “Particularly disliking the way he couldn’t stop looking over her shoulder, as though in search of others more interesting.
“She also believed Trump ‘must have an arrangement’ with wife Melania—why else would she remain married to him?”
In response, Steven Cheung, communications director for Trump’s re-election campaign told Newsweek: “This is nothing more than fake news intended to use made-up, salacious fabrications in order to sell copies of a book that belongs in the bargain bin of the fiction section.”