The One Person Donald Trump Might Actually Admire More Than Himself

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

If it weren't already apparent that Donald Trump can't keep his ego in check, he'll be more than happy to remind you of how wonderful he is. Trump has even claimed he could beat a George Washington-Abraham Lincoln ticket at the polls because he's so beloved by the public. With such an overblown opinion of himself, it's hard to imagine that the president would ever be in awe of anyone else. Yet there is one person he has always held in the highest esteem — and it's not an all-American patriot.

Trump had the privilege of meeting the late Queen Elizabeth II twice during his first term in office: once in 2018 and again the following year. The divisive POTUS had nothing but praise for the beloved monarch. In the new biography "The Queen and Her Presidents: The Hidden Hand That Shaped Destiny," author Susan Page quotes U.S. ambassador Woody Johnson as saying (via USA Today): "[A]fter the first four years [in office] and maybe to this day, of all the people that [Trump] met, the Queen had the most special relationship, the most special impact on him."

Three years after the heartbreaking death of the queen in 2022 at age 96, the president and First Lady Melania Trump visited her burial site during a state visit to England. Trump eulogized her in a statement as "a grand and beautiful lady ... there was no one like her!" (per People). He added that he and Melania would "always cherish our time together with the Queen, and never forget Her Majesty's generous friendship, great wisdom, and wonderful sense of humor."

If you needed more proof of President Trump's regard for Queen Elizabeth, look no further than the walls of Mar-a-Lago. As everyone knows, Trump has hung a number of portraits of himself in the White House. But another new book, "Elizabeth II: In Public. In Private. Her Story," claims the president has a duplicate of the queen's final portrait in the dining room of his Florida estate, with no other people represented in that location. "She was so great. I wanted to hang her picture in a room where there is no one else on the wall," Trump reportedly told biographer Robert Hardman (via People). Giving someone else the spotlight is the highest compliment the self-absorbed POTUS could offer.

Alas, that admiration may have been one-sided. Yet another royal biography, "A Voyage Around the Queen," reports that the queen was less than impressed by Trump's conduct during one of his visits. Per the Daily Mail, the monarch told a friend that she'd found him "'very rude.' She particularly disliked the way he couldn't stop looking over her shoulder, as though in search of others more interesting."

What's more, another Daily Mail report claims the iconic monarch had a bit of a sassy side: She used to do a spot-on imitation of both the president and first lady. For Melania, she "would go silent, put on a bored face and eventually mutter: 'I want to be alone' à la Marlene Dietrich." If Trump knew about that, he might think twice about displaying that royal portrait.