Mary McAleese reveals what Queen Elizabeth really thought of GAA - and one Gaelic sport in particular - as she explains in great detail the MANY reasons why the late monarch 'abhorred' hardline unionist Ian Paisley

Published: 16:25, 15 August 2026 | Updated: 16:27, 15 August 2026 Queen Elizabeth ‘abhorred’ hardline unionist Ian Paisley and his politics and had ‘no time for him whatsoever’, ex-president Mary McAleese has claimed. Ms McAleese also said Mr Paisley had never been ‘nice’ to the late British monarch, who made a historic State visit to Ireland in 2011 while Ms McAleese was in office. Mr Paisley was the long time leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and a staunch Free Presbyterian, who robustly criticised both the peace process and the Catholic Church. Ms McAleese, who was president from 1997 to 2011, made the remarks this week in The Ireland Podcast, an interview series with Fender Jackson, an artist who presents the show. While their friendship initially grew out of their official diplomatic roles as heads of state, Ms McAleese and the Queen developed a genuinely warm and close bond over the years. Ms McAleese was asked this week about the late Queen’s love of hurling, which precipitated her answer about Mr Paisley. Ms McAleese was asked this week about the late Queen’s love of hurling, which precipitated her answer about Mr Paisley. While their friendship initially grew out of their official diplomatic roles as heads of state, Ms McAleese and the Queen developed a genuinely warm and close bond over the years. Smiling Irish eyes greet Britain's Queen Elizabeth as she meets the people at the New University of Ulster in August 1977 despite warnings by the IRA that she should cancel her visit. The everend Ian Paisley in the background wearing sunglasses. She said one of the first ‘big’ conversations with Elizabeth was in a car with the king of Belgium and his wife who was also in the vehicle at the time. Ms McAleese was in Belgium to help open a new peace park in 1998. ‘We were traveling together in a car, knee-to-knee, we were two opposite two. I was sitting beside [Elizabeth].’ ‘And she started talking about shinty and hurling. And she loved shinty and she loved hurling. She knew a lot about both of them.’ However, unprompted, she then continued: ‘We also mentioned Paisley, of course, and we were talking because he, of course, was not involved]. It was 1998, November, and he had stayed out of the Good Friday Agreement. Stayed out for seven years, incidentally, and she really, 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. Said some terrible things when she went and saw the pope and that sort of thing. The Queen admired gaelic games, and in particular hurling ‘So we were talking about him, and Queen Paola [wife of the Belgian king] 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!”’ Despite his long-standing opposition to power-sharing, he eventually became the North’s First Minister in 2007, forming an unlikely bond with Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness. A spokesman for the DUP said yesterday in response to the former president’s claims: ‘Her late majesty would undoubtedly have taken the dignified position of maintaining the confidence of a private conversation. That is even more the case where both the supposed subject of the conversation and the other person involved are no longer alive.’ ‘Mrs McAleese’s motivations for making such claims three decades later are a matter for herself.’  Mr Paisley, a staunch Free Presbyterian, had accused the queen in 1998 of being a ‘parrot’ for the British New Labour government and later criticised the ‘secret’ arrangements for Pope Benedict’s 2010 UK visit. The queen had welcomed the Good Friday Agreement but Mr Paisley said she was only repeating the words of her political ‘masters’. He was responding to reports at the time that Queen Elizabeth was planning on visiting the North and Dublin in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement. Back then, Buckingham Palace stated: ‘They are Mr Paisley’s views and it’s for him to offer any follow-up to them.’ In 2010, he said the visit of the pope to the UK was a mistake. Referring to Queen Elizabeth again, he said arrangements for the pope’s UK visit had been made in ‘secret’. ‘Nobody knows who made the thing; you go and ask a question of any minister and he says he doesn’t want to have anything to do with it,’ he said. ‘The queen is only meeting them on Scottish soil, not on English soil.’ Ms McAleese said that Queen Elizabeth had always been quite clear that she wanted to come to visit Ireland. ‘She told me that it was one of her great sorrows that she had never been able to come to the Republic, and that she felt that because of that, that her contribution to peace was in a sense incomplete. ‘I had said, “Well, anything I can do at any time, I’ll try my best. Then, of course, when I became president, she said, “Remember, you made a promise”. And I said, “I did, and we’ll keep it”. And we did, but it took 14 years to get to the point where it became feasible. I was almost ready to leave office after two terms. ‘The minute that my government said “yes, we can do this”, she absolutely cleared her diary and came, and it was a great visit.’ Ms McAleese also claimed that an Irish diplomat was ‘sent to tell’ her that perhaps the queen should only come for a half-day trip to the races. ‘I said to the particular diplomat, who’s now dead and gone, I said, “No, because here’s the thing, you can’t call that a State visit. Where I come from, we would call that the bum’s rush, and I’m having nothing to do with that”.’ She added: ‘I want a State visit. That means at least three days.’ Elizabeth and her husband Philip made a historic four-day State visit to Ireland from May 17 to 20 in 2011, the first visit by a reigning British monarch to an independent Ireland. Mrs McAleese said: ‘She would not be coming to act as lady of the manor. I knew by then she would be coming as a Christian pilgrim, on a pilgrimage of reconciliation of sorrow, of genuine Buckingham Palace, Ms McAleese and the Department of Foreign Affairs were all contacted for comment. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.