Niall Horan has spent the evening at a Buckingham Palace reception for the Irish community - and shared a picture of himself meeting the Queen.

The One Direction star was joined by The X Factor judge Louis Walsh, boxing legend Barry McGuigan and around 300 other notable people from the emerald isle at the special event.

I would to thank @BritishMonarchy and of course queen Elizabeth for her invite to Buckingham palace yesterday evening pic.twitter.com/xzz5tiodv0

— Niall Horan (@NiallOfficial) March 26, 2014

He wrote on his snap: "I would to thank @BritishMonarchy and of course queen Elizabeth for her invite to Buckingham palace yesterday evening"

And he told the BBC: "It's an absolute honour to be here with two great countries coming together - I couldn't believe it when I got the invitation.

"To have met Her Majesty again was a great experience."

A palace spokesperson said: "It was a really fun evening - great company and extremely relaxed.

"Her Majesty seemed to enjoy the craic."

Other guests included ex-Formula One team boss Eddie Jordan, singer Imelda May and Father Ted writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews.