MARTIN McGuinness has paid tribute to the Queen, saying that he liked her.
The former IRA commander first met the Queen at a charity event in Belfast in 2012 where they shook hands in a symbolic gesture of reconciliation.
"I liked her courage in agreeing to meet with me; I liked the engagements that I've had with her," he said. "There's nothing I have seen in my engagements with her that this is someone I should dislike - I like her."
Sinn Féin's deputy first minister was speaking as part of a BBC Radio Ulster documentary that went behind the scenes to explore how the historic handshake came about.
He added that the Queen understood the significance of the peace process.
“I know she’s the head of the British state… she knows I was a member of the IRA… yet both of us were prepared to rise above all that,” he added.
Earlier this year, Mr McGuinness attended the Irish state banquet at Windsor Castle, where he joined in a toast to her while an orchestra played God Save The Queen.
