The Queen Is Not Touchy-Feely
Not that you’d really want to, but there are apparently some pretty strict guidelines for touching the Queen of England.
Like, don’t do it.
The only touching that’s allowed is touching that’s initiated by the Queen. And from the looks of it she wants to touch you about as much as you want her to touch you.
(i.e. not very) …
In addition to being up-tight, she’s also a shitty gift-giver, as President Barack Obama found out the hard way.
From ABC News:
Gift-giving is also an important part of the (royal) visit. The president and the first lady gave the queen a video iPod with an inscription, uploaded songs and accessories, plus a rare musical songbook signed by Richard Rodgers. According to one source, the iPod also contains video footage of the queen’s state visit to the United States in May 2007. The queen gave the president a silver framed photograph of herself and her husband, the official picture she gives all visiting dignitaries.
Damn. Yo-bama sure got hosed in that exchange.
Also hosed? Journalism.
Seriously, whenever the Queen and Jorge Dubya visited, all the press talked about was what a bunch of imperialist assholes America and Britain were.
Now that a Democrat’s in the office we get Camelot fluff.
Comments
By calhoun fawls on April 2nd, 2009 at 1:24 am
I think the President’s gift was inappropriate. Just like his gift of DVDs and a model of Marine One to Prime Minister Brown, the President seems not ready for the State Visit circuit. While you and I might like an Ipod or DVD, on the great stage of statescraft, such is seen as tacky. It does not make sense to most folks, but I know, from what seems like a previous life, that gifts that might seem great at a birthday party for our friends is just plain inappropriate as a state gift. We have to remember not every head of state shares our values on things, especially an elderly Queen. My guess is the United Kingdom’s diplomatic services are quietly bemoaning how inappropriate the gift from the President was and they see the Queen as being shortchanged in the gift exchange. An Ipod was impersonal and spoke perhaps too proudly of American products. I realize that there is no common sense as we think of it in diplomatic relations. But, President Obama has pretty much insulted the British so far with his choice of gifts. Something such as a painting of American horses, since the Queen is such a horse fan, would have been more fitting.
It is not the popular thing to say, but the President seems woefully over his head on formal diplomatic protocol.
By Drake Levigne on April 2nd, 2009 at 7:25 am
Who cares about those uppity, snooty Brits anyway? We got us Obamination! Let’s see what “gifts” Obama gives Syria’s Assad.
By Toyota Kawaski on April 2nd, 2009 at 3:27 pm
dress um up can’t take out of um
By Waldo on April 2nd, 2009 at 11:10 pm
The Obamas, as a head of state and his spouse, are not bound by the rules of protocol for UK citizens interacting with their sovereign. Non-story, nitwits.