The late Queen Elizabeth 'abhorred' DUP founder Ian Paisley and his politics, according to a former president of Ireland.
In an interview with The Ireland Podcast, Mary McAleese described travelling with the former monarch in Belgium in 1998 just months after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
Paisley had refused to endorse the peace deal, and criticised the Queen for her backing of it.
He said: "The Queen has no political voice, her voice is the voice of her masters and, of course, she has become the parrot. She is very foolish to do what she's doing and I don't think the people of Northern Ireland will take kindly to it."
According to Mrs McAleese, the disdain was very much mutual.
She said: "She had no time for him whatsoever.
"She abhorred him and his politics. And he had never been very nice to her anyway. He was quite scathing about her.
"We were talking about him, and Queen Paola (of Belgium) said to us, ‘Who is this man Paisley you were talking about? I don’t know him.’ And the Queen looked at her and said, ‘Oh, lucky you.’”
