Royal watchers are convinced that President Donald Trump greeted Queen Elizabeth with a fist bump at Buckingham Palace on the first day of his state visit to the U.K.
Donald Trump, 72, greeted Queen Elizabeth II, 93, with a handshake at Buckingham Palace on June 3. But a photo taken of the warm moment was taken at an angle, which made it appear that the U.S. President was far less formal with the British head of state. In the pic Trump appears to give Her Royal Highness a fist bump and critics on Twitter were quick to slam the White House resident.
“I mean I’m no Royalist but seriously? 😂” one person tweeted, “Why did you fist bump the queen @realDonaldTrump ? You don’t make a very good impression do you Donnie? 😂.” “Nice fist bump Liz 👊🏼 😂,” someone else joked. “A fist bump. A f***ing fist bump,” another outraged person tweeted.
On closer inspection though, it seems that Trump didn’t actually fist bump the Queen, but was delicately holding her hand with his fingers. It’s unsurprising that royal watchers would be on hyper alert looking for a moment when POTUS committed another faux pas on his second official visit to the U.K. In 2018 he caused outrage by defying protocol and walking in front of the Queen during an inspection of the honor guard at Windsor Castle. Trump – seemingly oblivious to the then 92-year-old grandmother and great-grandmother trying to weave her way past him – strode ahead leaving the monarch in his shadow.
Even before he stepped foot on British soil on June 3, Trump caused a controversy by calling fellow American, Meghan Markle, the 37-year-old Duchess of Sussex’s comments about him “nasty.” During his bid for the presidency in 2016, the then Suits star (who was not a member of the royal family at the time) slammed him as “misogynistic” during an appearance on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore on Comedy Central. When U.K. newspaper The Sun drew this to Trump’s attention during an interview ahead of his state visit, POTUS said, “I didn’t know that she was nasty.” He later denied that he said that in a June 2 tweet, even though The Sun had the interview on tape.