Sir Paul McCartney once had a crush on Queen Elizabeth.
Sir Paul McCartney
The Beatles legend has admitted he “rather fancied” the 95-year-old monarch when he was a young boy, as he said she was “a good-looking woman” and “quite a babe”.
In his new book 'The Lyrics' – which was written with Paul Muldoon and which McCartney has described as being "as close to an autobiography" as he will ever write – he recalled: “She was a good-looking woman, like a Hollywood film star. I think part of the secret behind her popularity, at least for my generation, was that she was quite a babe ... In our boyish ways, we rather fancied her."
The 79-year-old musician also remembered playing a song for the royal, and admitted he wasn’t sure if she enjoyed the performance or not because she “didn’t have a lot to say” about it.
He added: “I don’t know how to break this to you, but she didn’t have a lot to say.”
McCartney previously spoke about his crush on the Queen earlier this year for the CBS News show, ‘The Queen Carries On: A Gayle King Special’, when he recalled watching her coronation on TV in 1953.
He said at the time: "Until then we hadn't had a television. And me and my younger brother were always begging our parents, 'Can we get a TV?' ... Well then suddenly for the coronation, everyone got one.
"We thought she was a good-looking woman. We were pre-teen boys in Liverpool ... She looked like a film star to us.”
The ‘Hey Jude’ hitmaker and his bandmates – Ringo Starr, John Lennon, and George Harrison – became the first rock stars to be honoured at Buckingham Palace by the Queen in 1965, and McCartney also recalled the strict protocol he had to follow.
He added: “[We were told] to not shake her hand; to call her 'mam' and not 'Your Majesty'; and you know, if she stops on the line and talks to you, talk to her ... Otherwise shut up."
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