BEHIND THE HEADLINES
Brits cool with gesture by first lady
Embracing queen, once a royal no-no, gets media attention, but palace plays down issues of protocol.
LONDON—Michelle Obama, dubbed “Mighty Michelle” and the “new Jacqueline Kennedy” by British media, has dared to do what few have even considered: She put her arm around the queen.
In photos blasted on front pages and television screens, Queen Elizabeth II and the first lady are shown in an embrace at a reception Wednesday.
“Protocol seems to be dispensed with when the Obamas come to town,” said the Times of London, which noted that the queen seemed particularly comfortable with the first lady and “put her hand on the back of Mrs. Obama, who did the same for a few moments.”
When Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating put his arm around the queen in 1992, he was chastised as the “Lizard of Oz.”
“In this democratic age, the queen will go along with anything,” said Kenneth Rose, a well-known royal biographer. “But like most members of the royal family, she doesn’t like to be touched. It doesn’t come naturally to press the flesh.”
Rose recalled that during Richard M. Nixon’s term in office, Nixon touched Princess Anne, and she, rather alarmed at being touched, “shrugged off the presidential arm.”
That response, said Rose, was “noted and considered rather rude.”
The queen, however, adapts very easily “to this modern thing” of embracing, he said. “If you don’t do it, you are considered cold, standoffish and essentially English.”
A spokesman from Buckingham Palace, who by tradition is not named, played down any notion that protocol had been breached when Obama’s arm rested across the queen’s back.
“Despite this notion that we have reams and reams” of etiquette rules, the palace spokesman said, “we don’t.”
He also said he would not get into the “minute detail” of who started the touching.
Several Londoners interviewed said they had been following the discussion about Michelle Obama —including her fondness for sleeveless dresses and her height.
In photos, the 5-foot-11 first lady towers over the diminutive queen; many noted that it was thoughtful of the first lady to wear flats.
Ester Adewunmi, 50, a retired banker, wondered what kind of briefing the first lady received about how to meet and greet the British royals.
For one thing, she said, “Americans are used to hugging” and “we don’t do that as much.” As for the embrace with the queen, she said, “Good job Michelle didn’t kiss her!”
One indication of the attention lavished on Michelle Obama was that the Daily Mirror tabloid ran 14 photos of her and called her a “fashion belle.”
The Evening Standard declared “a razzle dazzling performance from the mighty Michelle.”
Style editor Phong Luu of the Telegraph said one of the many outfits the first lady had worn in London, a green pencil shirt and cream-colored sweater by J. Crew, showed “her great success in wearing ‘difficult colors.’ ” In a rare criticism, Luu said, Obama’s pearls, black cardigan and black skirt— the outfit she wore to the palace— was rather “school marmish.”
But that didn’t seem to bother the queen. The BBC, which surmised that “Michelle Obama fever” had hit Britain, said the queen had so warmed to her that she told the first lady before she left the palace, “Now we’ve met, will you please keep in touch?”
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