The Queen wanted to end a state banquet with Barack Obama because “she wanted to go to bed”, the UK’s former chancellor George Osborne has claimed.
The monarch reportedly told Mr Osborne during the state banquet in 2011 to ask the then-US president to leave because she was tired.
The ex-chancellor made the remarks at a talk with Lord Ed Vaizey, a former Tory member of Parliament and minister, hosted by the Old Pauline Club, an association for alumni of St. Paul's School, Insider reports.
He told the audience: “I was at a banquet — the state banquet in Britain for Barack Obama. And the Queen came up to me and said: 'Will you tell the president it's late and I want to go to bed.’
"And I looked over at — Barack Obama was having a great time, kind of knocking back vodka martinis with his mates, and I was like, 'Oh, my god, I'm going to be the person that has to go and tell him to go home.'"
Mr Obama was welcomed to Buckingham Palace by the Queen on his first state visit to Britain in May 2011.
The high profile three-day state visit was only the third by a US president to the UK in 100 years and included a lavish state banquet and a meeting with the newly-married Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
At the red-carpeted Grand Entrance of the Palace, the president and the first lady Michelle Obama were greeted by the monarch and the Duke of Edinburgh.
The Queen toasted the UK’s “special relationship” with the US and thanked America for twice coming to the rescue of the “free world” in two world wars.
She said: “Your visit to this country inevitably reminds us of our shared history, our common language, and our strong intellectual and cultural links.
“It also reminds us that your country twice came to the rescue of the free and democratic world when it was facing military disaster.
“On each occasion, after the end of those destructive wars, the generosity of the United States made a massive contribution to our economic recovery.
“Today the United States remains our most important ally and our two nations contribute to the security and prosperity of our peoples, and of the world, through shared national interests.”
She told the assembled VIP guests that when the two countries stand together “our people and other people of goodwill around the world will be more secure and can become more prosperous”.
The Queen finished with a toast, saying: “Ladies and gentlemen, we are here to celebrate the tried, tested and – yes – special relationship between our two countries.”
