THE Queen has visited hundreds of countries in her long reign and attended countless engagements up and down the country.
She’s the most well-travelled monarch in UK history, after touching down in 116 countries during 265 official visits, but there are some places she likes better than others.
A royal author has claimed the 94-year-old isn’t a big fan of Manchester, the north’s biggest city.
Karen Dolby shared the monarch’s true opinion of the metropolis in her book, The Wicked Wit of the Royal Family.
She revealed the Queen was less than impressed to stop by the city, which she’s visited multiple times.
Karen wrote: “The Queen is usually the model of diplomacy but there have been a few lapses over the years.
“On a proposed visit to the northern city, she remarked, ‘Manchester, that’s not such a nice place’.”
The monarch has made multiple trips to the city and Greater Manchester, visiting Stockport in 1968, and stopping off at Wigan on her Silver Jubilee tour in 1977.
The Queen also visited Withington Hospital in 1982, and officially opened Manchester’s Metrolink in 1992.
The Queen also opened the Civil Justice Centre in 2009, and in 2012 on her Diamond Jubilee tour opened a new wing at Manchester Royal Infirmary.
But it’s not the only Northern city which the Queen dislikes, as Kingston-Upon-Hull isn’t on her list of top destinations either.
The Queen visited the town on May 18 1957, accompanied by Prince Philip, and they visited St Andrew’s Docks, the University and Kingston General Hospital among other landmarks.
But while the visit was a resounding success, Karen revealed the Queen decided to make some changes to her speech based on her opinion of the city.
She said: “Before visiting Kingston-Upon-Hull in 1957, the Queen amended a speech on the grounds that she was happy to say ‘I am pleased to be in Kingston today’, but would not say, ‘I am very pleased’…”
It’s not just various UK cities which the Queen was less than impressed with, as even the majestic Niagara Falls, in Canada, failed to get a positive reaction.
The 51 metre high waterfall failed to excite the Queen, as Karen wrote: “And regarding Niagara Falls on a tour of Canada, she sounded less than impressed when she observed, ‘It looks very damp’.”
Plus she described rock band The Everly Brothers as sounding like ‘cats being strangled’, royal author reveals.
In more Royal Family news, we took a look inside Prince Charles’ Birkhall study jam-packed with books, family snaps and a sweet tribute to Camilla.
And Kate Middleton took a school assembly and encourages kids to talk about their ‘frustrations’.
