A teenage Liz Truss was filmed passionately arguing for the monarchy to be abolished - at a Lib Dem conference.
The Foreign Secretary may currently be vying to become Tory Party leader, but during her student days at Oxford her political affiliations were vastly different.
Ms Truss was a leader of Oxford University's Lib Dem group, and gave the rousing speech to party members in Brighton back in 1994, when she was 19.
The 28-year-old clip has been widely shared again as she emerges as the frontrunner for Number 10 in the race against Rishi Sunak.
The cabinet minister, now 46, said she has since had a radical change of view - describing herself as a "professional controversialist".
Two years after giving the speech she turned her back on the party and joined the Tories, becoming chair of the Lewisham Deptford Conservative Association in South London in 1998.
In her speech to Lib Dem members, Ms Truss said: "We Liberal Democrats believe in opportunity for all.
"I was being interviewed by Newsnight earlier this afternoon and we were filmed asking members of the public what they thought about the Monarchy.
"We came across a group of three people. I'd say they were around 50, 60 [years of age]. [They] looked fairly middle class, rather smart and in fact rather reactionary to be perfectly frank.
"We asked them they're opinion of the Monarch, do you know what they said? They said: 'Abolish them. We've had enough'."
She added that she agreed with Paddy Ashdown, the former Lib Dem leader who said the Monarchy should be scrapped.
Ms Truss said: "I agree with Paddy Ashdown when he said: 'Everybody in Britain should have the chance to be a somebody'.
'But only one family can provide the head of the state. We Liberal Democrats believe in opportunity for all.
"We do not believe people are born to rule.'"
She later said she'd changed her mind.
She told the BBC's Nick Robinson: "I think it's fair to say that when I was in my youth I was a professional controversialist and I liked exploring ideas and stirring things up.
"And I came from a left-wing background as I said my mother was in the campaign for nuclear disarmament.
"There are very few people at my school or who I met on a regular basis in fact, I could count them on one hand who you'd describe as right-wing.
"So I thought at the time, this is a totally different way of life, it doesn't represent the type of society I want to live in.
"And I began to understand more about why Britain is successful and part of our success is the constitutional monarchy that supports a free democracy."
Earlier today Ms Truss finally broke cover as the contest to be next Prime Minister almost immediately descended into six weeks of blue-on-blue warfare.
Fresh from cracking open champagne on the Commons terrace last night, the Foreign Secretary drew battle lines between herself and Rishi Sunak as she agreed to her first broadcast interviews since the campaign began.
Ms Truss got through to the final two last night after ousting Penny Mordaunt by eight MPs’ votes amid dirty tricks claims. The pair face two TV interviews and a dozen Tory member hustings before the new PM takes office on September 6.
Ms Truss has pledged to announce an avalanche of cuts on day one - to reverse a National Insurance hike, cancel a corporation tax rise, pause £153-a-home green levies on energy bills, raise defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030, and bring in an emergency Budget and spending review.
But in an eyebrow-raising interview on the BBC, she admitted her tax cuts will cost around £30billion a year and refused to say in detail how they’ll be funded.
She simply insisted they “are affordable within our current fiscal rules.. we would still see debt falling after three years”.
And asked if a single leading economist thinks cutting taxes with borrowed money won’t raise inflation, she named just one - Patrick Minford.
He is often quoted by Brexiteers and once claimed a no-deal Brexit would bring a £135bn boost to the economy.
