Clinton turned down Queen because he wanted a curry

And other stories from the stranger side of life

Bill and Hillary Clinton
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Bill Clinton turned down tea with the Queen in 1997 because he wanted to go for a curry, formerly classified documents have revealed. Buckingham Palace contacted Downing Street to say “HM the Queen would be very pleased” to invite the Clintons to tea on their one-day detour from summits in Paris and The Hague. However, the Clintons replied that they while “very grateful for HM the Queen’s invitation”, they would “wish to decline politely”. A briefing note said Bill had expressed an interest “in trying Indian food” instead.

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Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.