On the final track of 1969 album Abbey Road, the Beatles sang “her majesty’s a pretty nice girl”, and it seems Sir Paul McCartney wasn’t joking.

The musician revealed in an interview with Esquire magazine that he had a bit of a crush on the Queen growing up – and still does.

He admitted: “I like the Queen. When we grew up she was a babe. Oh, yeah. We were like 11, she was 21 and good looking. And she had a figure on her.”

He added: “Listen, she was a very pretty girl. Look at the old photos. We definitely admired her physical attributes.”

The Queen and Paul McCartney in 1996 (Paul McCartney and the Queen in 2012 (Carl Court/PA)
The Queen and Paul McCartney in 1996 (Carl Court/PA)

The 73-year-old confirmed he didn’t mention this to Her Majesty any of the times he met her, but wouldn’t mind if she knew: “I say it regularly in the press hoping she’ll read it.”

However, it now seems unlikely that Sir Paul will fulfil the ambition he set out in the 1969 song: “I wanna tell her that I love her a lot, But I gotta get a bellyfull of wine, Her Majesty’s a pretty nice girl, Someday I’m gonna make her mine.”

He also confirmed he had no plans to retire any time soon: “I still enjoy writing, I still enjoy singing. What am I gonna do? You see so many people who retire and then immediately expire.”