Sir Paul McCartney reveals his wife Nancy claims Queen Elizabeth 'fancied' him as he shares his mutual admiration for the 'babe' late monarch

Sir Paul McCartney has shared his wife's theory that the late Queen Elizabeth II fancied him – but admitted he had a soft spot for her too.

The Beatles star, 84, said he thought the monarch was a 'babe' and revealed he had a secret crush on her as a younger man.

Sir Paul first met Her Majesty when he was around 21 years old after his band shot to global stardom and his wife Nancy Shevell now tells him 'she fancied you'.

During a conversation about the most famous person he'd met during his career, Sir Paul said: 'The Queen. I loved The Queen. She was a doll.

'She was crowned when I was 11 and she was a babe. She was 23 or something, so we always used to think, 'Wow, this is amazing'.

'You know, having a king, then we've got this girl, this babe... we liked her in other ways than we should have liked her. Meeting her was special.'

He continued: 'Nancy, my wife now, she says, "She fancied you". There's no knowing if there's any truth to that but I like to think it's true.' 

Speaking on comedian Amy Poehler's Good Hang podcast, Paul also spoke about the forthcoming Beatles biopics.

Sir Paul revealed his fears that his character, played by Paul Mescal, looks shorter than his band mate John Lennon.

He furiously insisted: 'We were all the same height.'

Sir Paul even raised the issue with the film's director Sam Mendes, and said: 'He sent me a still from the filming and they were crossing Abbey Road.

'And the Paul character is markedly smaller. I texted him, "Sam! Smaller?! Don't do this". He said, "It's just the stride pattern", and he sent me another one where they were equal.'

Elsewhere during their chat, Sir Paul claimed he can 'remember being born' after recalling hearing the 'clanging of forceps' during his delivery.

He shed light on the unusual memory and confessed he 'doesn't know if he made it up', saying: 'I have this feeling that I kind of remember being born. 

'I kind of remember white tiles, very sort of hygienic white tiles and chrome instruments and a clanging, because I was a forceps birth. They had to pull me out.'

Paul was born on June 18, 1942, at Walton Hospital in Liverpool to mother Maria Patricia and father James McCartney.

The music legend has spoken in the past about his memories and admitted they are 'probably total bulls**t', but maintains he can recall the imagery. 

Paul told Amy: 'These things you don't know if you've made it up... But I I have this feeling that I kind of remember being born.

'So I sort of think I remember [my birth]. How funny... I don't know if it's true.'

Speaking to The Guardian earlier this year, Paul echoed: 'OK, well, now we get into dubious territory, because I have a feeling I can remember being born.

'Highly dubious, highly dubious, but I feel the white tiles and chrome instruments and the sounds. It's probably total bulls**t.

'In fact, it almost certainly is. An imagined memory! And I was a forceps delivery. I don't quite understand what that is. I think they had to pull me out with some pliers.'

Paul has spoken about his mother Mary, a nurse, many times and she is mentioned in the group's iconic 1970 hit Let It Be, with the first line reading: 'When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me. Speaking words of wisdom, let it be.' 

He said of her death: 'My mum dying when I was 14 was the big shock in my teenage years. She died of cancer, I learnt later. I didn’t know then why she had died.

'My mother’s death broke my dad up. That was the worst thing for me, hearing my dad cry. I’d never heard him cry before. It was a terrible blow to the family. You grow up real quick, because you never expect to hear your parents crying.

'You expect to see women crying, or kids in the playground, or even yourself crying – and you can explain all that. But when it’s your dad, then you know something’s really wrong and it shakes your faith in everything.

'But I was determined not to let it affect me. I carried on. I learnt to put a shell around me at that age. 

'There was none of this sitting at home crying – that would be recommended now, but not then.'

Paul created a retrospective with his latest album, The Boys Of Dungeon Lane – which he said was full of 'memory songs' about his youth and bandmates. 

Of the album, he said: 'I like to go over memories, because it brings me back to the time. It brings me back to the people.'

Paul's youth is about to hit the big screens with  Mendes' biopics of each member of The Beatles, with Paul Mescal set to play Macca. 

Alongside Paul is Harris Dickinson (John Lennon), Barry Keoghan (Ringo Starr) and Joseph Quinn (George Harrison).

Speaking about how he helped train Paul, he said: 'He came into this office and I thought, "Well, I'll show him how to do Blackbird". So I picked up the guitar and started playing... and he played along exactly! I think he knew it better than I did!

'It was amazing how studied and how well-educated he was about me. So, yeah, I thought, OK, I'll leave you to it.'