On Thursday, Queen Camilla joined King Charles III at a commemoration event held by the British Ministry of Defense and the Royal British Legion to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day, where she also had a chat with French First Lady Brigitte Macron An awkward meeting.
The First Lady tried to hold the Queen’s hand as the two stood together for a moment of silence after laying a wreath to honor fallen soldiers at the Normandy Cenotaph in Vail-sur-Mer.
However, the move was not well received. Queen Camilla refused to take Brigitte’s hand and placed her arms by her sides.
Michelle Obama recalls breaking royal agreement with Queen Elizabeth
French First Lady Brigitte Macron attempts to hold Queen Camilla’s hand. (Getty Images)
The first lady quickly understood this and stood beside the royals with her arms folded in front of her.
The two women were later reunited with their husband King Charles and French President Emmanuel Macron.
King Charles delivers first public speech since cancer diagnosis at D-Day event
Camilla refused to shake the First Lady’s hand and placed her arms by her sides. (Getty Images)
The moment quickly gained traction on social media, prompting mixed reactions from the public.
While some called Camilla’s rejection a “little snub”, others paid tribute to the Queen.
One user said: “Touching the Queen goes against all etiquette.” write on X (formerly Twitter). “Bridget should know better. Queen Camilla has shown dignity in not overdoing it.”
WATCH: Queen Camilla refuses to shake hands with France’s First Lady
This isn’t the first time the boundaries of royal etiquette have been tested.
During the visit with president barack obama Michelle Obama hugs Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace in 2009.
At that time, a smiling Queen Elizabeth also deviated slightly from protocol and briefly put her arm around Obama in a rare public expression of love. This is the first time Obama has met the Queen.
In 2009, former first lady Michelle Obama broke royal protocol when she met Queen Elizabeth for the first time. (Getty Images)
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A Buckingham Palace spokesman previously said, asking not to be named due to Buckingham Palace policy, that he could not remember the last time the Queen showed such public affection for a First Lady or a dignitary.
“It’s a mutual, spontaneous expression of affection,” he said. “We are not issuing instructions not to touch the Queen.”
Obama also wrote about the incident in her memoir, “Becoming,” reiterating that she did what was “natural” to her.
“Forget that she sometimes wore a diamond crown, forget that I flew to London on the presidential plane: we were just two tired ladies weighed down by shoes,” Obama said. huffington post). “Then something I do instinctively every time I feel connected to a new person is express my feelings outwardly. I put a hand lovingly on her shoulder.”
She continued: “But I try not to let the criticism upset me. If I didn’t do the right thing at Buckingham Palace, I at least did the human thing. And I bet the Queen agrees with that, because when I touch When I touched her, she just moved closer and placed a gloved hand gently on my back.
King Charles III travels abroad for the first time since announcing his cancer diagnosis. (Getty Images)
At Thursday’s event, King Charles announced his cancer diagnosis February – Commemorates the Allied soldiers who landed in France on June 6, 1944 and worked to liberate France from Nazi-occupied northwestern Europe.
Speaking at the event, Charles said: “How lucky we, and the entire free world, are that a generation of men and women in Britain and other Allied nations did not flinch when faced with this trial. “On the beaches of Normandy, and on the sea beyond , and in the skies above, our Armed Forces performed their duty with humbling determination and resolve.”
He added: “Our gratitude is eternal, our admiration is everlasting.”
On June 6, 2024, in Ville-sur-Mer, France, the British Ministry of Defense and the Royal British Legion held a commemorative event at the Normandy Memorial Hall in England to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. During the ceremony, King Charles III delivered a speech with veterans and military personnel. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
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A day earlier, the king arrived in Portsmouth, England, with Camilla and Prince William to mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
In a video shared on the official royal website, Charles told a crowd of veterans and politicians: “The stories of courage, resilience and unity that we hear today and throughout our lives are sure to move us, inspire us and remind us that we fight The gratitude of what was then a great generation has now sadly diminished to so little.
Prince William spoke to D-Day and Normandy veterans after the UK’s national commemoration. (Getty Images)
King Charles was diagnosed with cancer shortly after undergoing treatment for an enlarged prostate. (Mark Cuthbert)
In February, Buckingham Palace announced that Charles have been diagnosed with a certain cancer and is receiving treatment. During Monarch’s surgery for “benign prostatic hyperplasia” at a London clinic, a “separate issue of concern” was discovered.
“Subsequent diagnostic tests identified a form of cancer,” the palace said in a statement at the time.
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The Associated Press and Mariah Haas of Fox News Digital contributed to this article.
