Ryanair's Michael O'Leary apologises for joke about having sex with the queen
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary has apologised for joking about "making love" to the Queen at a meeting with British politicians.
Speaking at the Parliamentary Assembly in Dublin ahead of a planned visit to the UK by Irish president Michael D Higgins, the controversial airline CEO said: "It is a great pleasure to be here in such august company.
"Addressing such an august body as this reminds me much of making love to the Queen of England. You know it is a great honour. You're just not sure how much pleasure it is going to be."
The unfunny gag prompted a complaint from Tory MP Andrew Rosindell, who said the joke was "inappropriate" and O'Leary hastily said sorry.
"I happily apologise for my opening remarks," he said. "It is always hard to judge the room. It is normally a joke that works quite well and I thought it might work well here. I didn't mean to convey any discourtesy and I apologise if I did," reports the Belfast Telegraph.
O'Leary is no stranger to causing offence. He has previously branded passengers who forget to print their boarding passes as "idiots", saying they deserved to be fined 60 Euros for "being stupid."
He has also joked about wanting to "torture" overweight passengers, and mocked Spanish airport workers who had to be sacked when he launched a new route.
Only last year, he apologised to shareholders and admitted that his airline "should try to eliminate the things that unneccessarily p*** people off."
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