GIVE BACK YOUR GONG! FURY AS SIR IAN BAD-MOUTHS LATE QUEEN

SIR Ian McKellen has been lambasted for making a "snide attack" on the late Queen and faced angry demands to hand back his knighthood.

- Stephen Beech and Giles Sheldrick

The veteran actor, 85, accused the beloved monarch of being "rude" and "quite mad" towards the end of her life.

Royal biographer Margaret Holder said: "Perhaps if Sir Ian feels so slighted by the Queen he could consider returning his knighthood, although he may regret that in the future." Ms Holder then referred to the star's fall from a stage while performing in June and added: "We have to remember this is an elderly man who had a nasty accident recently. Perhaps he may say something different in time to come."

Dickie Arbiter, the late Queen's official spokesman between 1988 and 2000 and a close confidant of the monarch, said the actor should ask himself why he accepted the honour from the Queen.

He added: "Ian McKellen was being somewhat churlish and over the top suggesting the late Queen was rude when she asked if people 'were still going to the theatre'.

"Theatres have complained for years about high costs and a lack of bums on seats - a perfectly legitimate question. If that's how he felt, why accept the honour?

"It was a snide attack not expected of an intelligent man with such stature. The question is, did the late Queen really say that and, if so, why come out with it now? A cheap shot."

Sir Ian was knighted for services to the performing arts in 1991 and Queen Elizabeth II appointed him Companion of Honour for his services to drama and equality in 2008. But it has not stopped The Lord Of The Rings star taking a swipe at the late monarch and other members of the Royal Family.

While discussing his latest film The Critic in a newspaper interview, Sir Ian said: "The Queen, I'm sure she was quite mad at the end.

"And on the few occasions I met her she was quite rude."