Teetoal French president Nicolas Sarkozy has recounted how he asked the Queen if she ever got bored after mistaking a gin and tonic for a glass of water.

The conversation took place during Mr Sarkozy's 2008 state visit to Britain with his new wife Carla – they married the previous month.

Recalling the incident at a ceremony in the Elysee Palace last month, the 55-year-old said: "(For) this trip with Carlita, we were both a bit tense."

He revealed that while sat next to the Queen at a state banquet for 160 guests he became "very thirsty".

"I took a glass. I thought it was water, but it was gin," he said. "You know I haven’t drunk (alcohol) in forty years."

And according to the president, the effect was instantaneous.

"It was when I asked the Queen whether she ever got bored and she replied, 'Yes, but I don’t say so', that I understood I'd been drinking."

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