Nigel Farage said he has had disagreements with the King in the past, but they since have “a laugh” with each other.
The Reform UK leader attended a reception for newly elected MPs and Members of the House of Lords at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday, hosted by the King and Queen, which the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester also attended.
Mr Farage said he has met the King “many times”, and added that he knew if he saw him “some of the exchanges would be interesting” as they “have disagreed in the past”.
He added: “He came to the European Parliament many years ago and gave a big speech to which he got a standing ovation.
“Apart from me, I sat there with arms folded. So we’ve had a laugh about it ever since, it’s not nasty, it’s climate change and stuff like that.”
Mr Farage met the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, then afterwards said he said they were “charming” and they are “doing a lot of the heavy lifting”.
Asked if it was the first time he had met them, he said: “I met them [a] long, long, long time ago. But no, they’re charming, and they do a lot of the heavy lifting, because there’s one or two gaps out there.”
He said that it has “been a difficult few years” for the royal family, adding: “You know, wonder boy and wonder girl disappear off to America, you know, the Queen dies, the King’s not been well, Andrew’s not in the public eye, Princess Anne is 74 or 75 or whatever she is. So they’re doing a lot of the heavy lifting. And I think doing it very well.”
Mr Farage said he had “a laugh about life” with Edward.
Of the reception, he said: “It’s really funny being at this, because this is not the first one of these I’ve been to.
“I came to a reception for new MEPs. So we’re going back 26 years, and there were about 30 of us, and that was with the Queen and as he was then, the Duke of Edinburgh.”
