It’s often referred to as the special relationship, yet US presidents and first ladies have faced challenges in mastering royal etiquette over the years.
Donald Trump was the latest commander-in-chief to raise regal eyebrows on his state visit to Windsor Castle this week.
Critics claimed the 79-year-old breached ‘unofficial rules of personal diplomacy’ by complimenting the Princess of Wales on her appearance.
President Trump was recorded offering a handshake to Catherine, saying: ‘You’re beautiful. So beautiful’.
Later, at a formal state banquet on Wednesday, he described her again as ‘so radiant, and so healthy, and so beautiful.’
Royal historian Justin Vovk criticized this, describing the widely broadcasted remarks as ‘quite awkward’ and added, ‘There are numerous cringe-worthy aspects to it.’
However, Mr Trump is not alone among US presidents to blunder before Britain’s royals.
Daily Mail looks back at some of the most memorable sovereign slip-ups by US leaders and their wives.
Melania Trump, Donald Trump, King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle on Wednesday
DONALD TRUMP
President Trump first made a royal visit to the UK in July 2018, 18 months into his first term.
He met Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle in a trip that was pared-down to avoid large protests in London.
Reportedly, President Trump kept the Queen waiting for ten minutes under the 27-degree heat and then impolitely walked ahead of her while reviewing the honor guard.
The volatile president further worsened the situation by not bowing when meeting the Queen. Similarly, first lady Melania did not curtsy, opting to shake hands instead.
Bowing and curtsying is not obligatory but is seen by the Palace as the general courtesy.
A book about the late Queen mentioned that she considered President Trump ‘very rude’ and ‘particularly disliked’ how he seemed to look over her shoulder as if seeking someone more engaging.
It was also suggested that she believed his relationship with his wife was ‘some sort of arrangement’.
Craig Brown’s book, A Voyage Around The Queen, noted: ‘Throughout her reign, Her Majesty hosted several contentious foreign leaders, including Bashar al-Assad, Robert Mugabe, Idi Amin, Donald Trump, Emperor Hirohito, and Vladimir Putin.’
Pictured: Trump and Elizabeth II at a state banquet at Buckingham Palace during his first state visit
‘She may not have found their company convivial; upon their departure, she may even have voiced a discreet word of disapproval.
‘A few weeks after President Trump’s visit, for instance, she confided in one lunch guest that she found him ‘very rude’.
‘She particularly disliked the way he couldn’t stop looking over her shoulder, as though in search of others more interesting.
‘She also believed President Trump ‘must have some sort of arrangement’ with his wife Melania, or else why would she have remained married?
‘For his part, Donald Trump was confident he had been her favourite guest ever.’
The meeting was met with large-scale protests, with a giant inflatable blimp portraying Trump as a baby floating over Parliament Square.
A year later President Trump enjoyed the pomp of a full state visit with his wife and four of his children.
Although he avoided any major gaffes, he was accused of breaking royal protocol by placing his hand on the monarch’s back, while toasting her as a ‘great, great woman’.
JIMMY CARTER
Known for his easy Southern charm, President Carter brought with him a decidedly informal approach to royal etiquette during his first official trip abroad.
At a Buckingham Palace banquet in May 1977, the 39th US president was said to have kissed the Queen Mother on the lips.
Queen Elizabeth, then 76, was later quoted as saying: ‘I took a sharp step backwards – not quite far enough.’
The former American president, however, denied that he kissed her on the lips and said instead it was ‘lightly on the cheek’, while saying goodnight after the diplomatic dinner.
He wrote in his 2016 autobiography: ‘More than two years later, there were reports in the British papers that grossly distorted this event, stating that I had deeply embarrassed her with excessive familiarity.
‘I was distressed by these reports, but couldn’t change what had happened – nor did I regret it.’
Pictured: President Jimmy Carter speaking with Her Majesties The Queen and the Queen Mother in the Blue Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace during the visit in May 1977
GERALD FORD
The late Queen made four state visits to the United States during her 70-year reign, but her 1976 trip proved to be a particularly memorable exercise in diplomatic awkwardness.
During a gala to mark US bicentennial celebrations, President Gerald Ford shared a dance with the monarch.
However, the accompanying band struck up the tune ‘The Lady is a Tramp’.
During the same visit, President Ford and his wife, Betty Ford, were taking the Queen up to the Yellow Oval Room.
The lift door opened and there stood the Fords’ middle son, Jack, 24, whose shirt was undone and was holding his dress shirt studs.
Ms Ford recalled later to The Washington Post: ‘The Queen said, ‘Oh think nothing of it. I have one of those at home.
‘And obviously she does. In fact a couple of them, from what I’ve read.
‘I think probably Prince Andrew has caused her some similar experiences of looking for – well, maybe not dress studs.’
Pictured: Gerald Ford dancing with Queen Elizabeth II at the White House, Washington, during the 1976 Bicentennial Celebrations of the Declaration of Independence
BARACK OBAMA
The 44th US president’s visits to the UK were mostly smooth – but even Barack Obama was not immune to regal controversy.
In 2009, Michelle Obama drew a wave of criticism after the First Lady placed an arm around the Queen’s shoulders.
Mrs Obama later responded to the faux pas by claiming the Queen had no issue with being touched and even moved closer as they bonded over their painful shoes.
In her book, Becoming, Ms Obama wrote: ‘The Queen glanced down at the pair of black Jimmy Choos I was wearing. She shook her head.
”These shoes are unpleasant, are they not?’
‘Forget that she sometimes wore a diamond crown and that I’d flown to London on the presidential jet; we were just two tired ladies oppressed by our shoes.
‘I then did what’s instinctive to me anytime I feel connected to a new person, which is to express my feelings outwardly. I laid my hand affectionately across her shoulder.
‘I couldn’t have known it in the moment, but I was committing what would be deemed an epic faux pas.
Pictured: Former US First Lady Michelle Obama with her arm around Queen Elizabeth ll at the reception at Buckingham Palace, London, Britain April 1, 2009
‘I’d touched the Queen of England, which I’d soon learn was apparently not done.’
She added: ”If I hadn’t done the proper thing at Buckingham Palace, I had at least done the human thing. I daresay the Queen was OK with it too, because when I touched her, she pulled closer, resting a gloved hand lightly on the small of my back.’
The late Queen’s long-time dressmaker, Angela Kelly, wrote about the incident in her 2019 book, describing’instant, mutual warmth’ between the pair.
Meanwhile, at Buckingham Palace, in 2011, Presidenr Obama was proposing a toast when the orchestra began to play ‘God Save The Queen’.
Rather than pausing respectfully for the national anthem to play out, he ploughed on with his remarks, speaking over the music.
The Queen then waited until the final notes faded before raising her glass.
GEORGE W. BUSH
On the 2007 royal visit to the United States, President Bush made a verbal slip-up which adding 200 years to her age.
During a welcome ceremony on the White House lawn, the gaffe-prone president declared that the Queen had first toured the United States in 1776.
He had meant to state how the Queen had helped celebrate the US bicentennial in 1976.
President Bush said in his speech: ‘The American people are proud to welcome Your Majesty back to the United States, a nation you’ve come to know very well.
‘After all, you’ve dined with ten US presidents.
‘You helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in 17…in 1976.’
He then compounded the error by winking at her before remarking to dignitaries: ‘She gave me a look that only a mother could give a child.’
The Queen, grinning, replied in her speech: ‘I wondered whether I should start this toast by saying, ‘When I was here in 1776…’
Pictured: Queen Elizabeth II with US President, George H W Bush during the Royal Tour of America in 1991
RONALD REAGAN
The Queen personally invited Ronald Reagan and wife Nancy to stay at Windsor Castle in 1982.
However, instead of leaping at the honour, the President of the United States kept Her Majesty waiting for weeks for a reply.
According to documents later released from the National Archives, ambassador Nicholas Henderson, wrote in a memo to the Foreign Office: ‘It is really for the President to respond to her invitation, which he has not done.
‘As you know those surrounding the President are not deliberately rude: It is simply that they are not organised.’
A former official later claimed the delayed response could have been down to Mrs Reagan.
William Sittmann, special assistant to Mr Reagan, said: ‘Mrs Reagan was very strict about his schedule, she would consult her astrologer to see if this was the right time to travel.’
Eventually the matter was smoothed over and the Reagans did come to Windsor, where the president memorably joined the Queen for a horseback ride in the grounds.
The papers show how Mr Reagan’s staff asked what he needed to wear while riding and said he wanted a thoroughbred horse.
Pictured: Queen Elizabeth II with US President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy at Buckingham Palace in 1989
JOE BIDEN
President Biden came to Glasgow to talk about cutting emissions – but produced a rather different kind of gas at the COP26 climate summit in 2021.
The Mail on Sunday reported how Queen Camilla, then the Duchess of Cornwall, was taken aback when the then president broke wind during a reception at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery.
‘It was long and loud and impossible to ignore,’ the source said. ‘Camilla hasn’t stopped talking about it.’
Mr Biden was also accused of a royal gaffe when seen wearing his trademark Ray-Ban sunglasses alongside the late Queen in June 2021.
A former member of palace staff described the fashion faux-pas at Windsor Castle as a ‘breach of protocol’.
Grant Harrold, a former butler to Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, said: ‘If you’re meeting the queen face-to-face there’s no sunglasses or anything like that at all because eye contact is quite important with any introduction.
‘It’s fine for Biden to have had sunglasses on but he should have removed them when he actually met the queen.
‘Everyone else has to, it doesn’t matter who you are, even royals remove sunglasses when they meet royals.’
Pictured: President Joe Biden at the Cop26 climate summit in 2021
