Ex-Wallabies star shares story about time he ‘kissed the Queen’.

Baffled by the Queen’s afternoon drink of choice while on a visit to Windsor Castle, a former rugby international let his curiosity get the better of him.

Former Australian rugby player Drew Mitchell has shared a story about the time he “kissed the Queen”.

On a tour with the Wallabies, who were invited to Windsor Castle to meet the Queen, Mr Mitchell let his curiosity get the better of him.

After meeting Her Majesty, along with other formalities, attendees began mingling.

“She’s fantastic at small talk; I mean, guess she’d probably be the best in the world at small talk,” he explained to Triple M’s Rush Hour with Gus, Jude and Wendell.

“I was sort of just sitting there by myself, kind of in awe of the situation I found myself in.

Was there anyone in the world better at small talk than the Queen? Picture: Yui Mok / WPA Pool / Getty Images

“I finished an orange juice – this was probably about two o’clock in the afternoon … and I went to put it on the butler’s tray … and he only had one glass, a full glass on this tray and I thought there was probably room for an empty orange juice glass,” he said.

“He said, ‘Oh, excuse me sir, this is the majesty’s drink.’ I was like, ‘What, really? What is it, soda water?’ And he said, ‘No, no it’s a martini, straight gin with a dash of vermouth.”

“I thought, ‘Lizzy it’s 2 o’clock!’” he said.

Mr Mitchell watched the butler take the drink over to the Queen, who had a sip, fascinated by Her Majesty’s drink of choice so early in the afternoon.

“She just didn’t batter an eyelid and I was so impressed by that,” he recalled.

Wallabies players Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell sneakily sipped the Queen’s drink during a trip to Windsor Castle. Picture: Troy Snook

“From a far, I kind of just stood there and kept watching her, and as someone came over to interrupt her to say ‘look, you need to come in and have a photograph or a meet and greet’ I saw her put her glass on top of a cabinet.”

“This is my chance.”

The former rugby star said he grabbed his “wingman” Matt Giteau to keep watch as he grabbed her glass.

“So I grabbed the glass off the cabinet, and I sort of crouched down a little bit … and then I had a sip of her drink,” he said.

“And I thought, ‘Oh geez, this is stiff!”

Hit by a realisation that he was sneakily drinking the Queen’s martini, Mr Mitchell quickly hatched a plan.

“I could go down for this, so I don’t want to go down myself,” he said.

A Beefeater gin bottle with a message attached, joined the floral tributes to Britain's Queen Elizabeth. Picture: Alastair Grant

“So, I was like wingman Giteau, have a sip. If I get in trouble, you’re coming with me,” he said.

Then, another realisation came across the former sportsman.

“Everyone knows, back from the days of sharing at school, the dreds (saliva) are always in the bottom, right, the backwash and that type of stuff,” he said.

“I need to finish that because I want the Queens dreds.”

Mr Mitchell said he was so proud, he went home, logged into Facebook and changed his status to, “Today, I basically kissed the queen!”

Hearing the news of Her Majesty’s death, he said he’d be celebrating her life with a drink on Saturday night.

“I’ll be having a straight gin with a dash of vermouth.”