London : Heads of States usually pay minute attention to details when visiting UK and calling upon Queen Elizabeth. There are certain protocols they are expected to follow, certain mannerisms, certain gestures.
In UK on a four-day visit, Trump was to meet Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle on Friday. The 92-year-old waited, waited and then some more – under temperatures considered quite high in England and with only a partial shade to shield her. A whole ten minutes after she had come out, a black Range Rover came into sight and eventually stopped to deliver Trump and wife Melania.
The US President and his wife were expectantly polite as they greeted the monarch but Trump never bowed – a breach in commonly understood British protocol. Even when inspecting troops, he walked noticeably ahead of the Queen. And while some have argued that he is not obligated to follow every single protocol related to a monarch, others – especially those in UK – say he failed to adhere to acceptable signs of respect.
It is this meeting between the Queen and Trump that Britons had been fearing for some time. And for these reasons precisely. A petition in July of 2017 had 1.87 million signatories who had sought to prevent Trump from making a state visit to UK and thereby embarrassing the Queen.
It is not just his conduct but previous horror statements that Trump has been guilty of that have many Britons irked still. At a point in time – much before he became the US President, Trump had said he would have slept with Princess Diana ‘without hesitation’, and said ‘who won’t’ photograph Kate Middleton – wife of Prince Harry – topless.
On Friday, Trump was at least more careful with his choice of words although even in his praise for the Queen, he was rather awkward. “For so many years she has represented her country, she has really never made a mistake. You don’t see, like, anything embarrassing. She is just an incredible woman,” Trump told The Sun newspaper. Little surprise then that in a poll conducted across UK, half of all respondents felt the Queen must skip meeting Trump.
Another raging controversy was when he sat on Winston Churchill’s armchair at Blenheim Palace. Many, including senior British politicians, questioned what right he had to get himself clicked on that armchair after all the insults he has hurled at UK.
While the opposition has flayed May for apparently playing into the hands of Trump despite his insults, Trump continues to maintain a rather stiff upper lip.
Bureau Report
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