The Royalist attended the Irish arm of the Hay Literary Festival on Sunday, and went to see Stephen Frears, director of 'The Queen', give a talk about his art.

He spent  good deal of time talking about 'The Queen', and talked about the use of archive footage in the film. After his talk, the Royalist sidled up to him and asked a question that's been bugging one for years, 'Where did the detail of Blair's first meeting with the Queen come from?'

"If you ask Peter (Morgan, the screenwriter) he'll tell you he made it up. But when Blair was asked what it was like meeting the Queen he told people to watch the film, so it was obviously a good guess," Frears replied.