Queen Elizabeth II wore a brooch given to her by former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama Michelle LeVaughn Robinson ObamaQueen Elizabeth wore brooch from Obamas on the day Trump arrived in the UK: reports Obama: 'I'm actually surprised by how much money I got' Michelle Obama attends Beyonce and Jay-Z concert in Paris MORE on the day President Trump Donald John TrumpTrump says he doesn't want to use 'adversary' to describe Russia Comey urges Americans to vote for Democrats in midterms Roby wins Alabama GOP runoff, overcoming blowback from Trump criticism MORE landed in the United Kingdom, according to multiple reports.
The Obamas gave the vintage brooch to the Queen during a 2011 visit. The 14-karat yellow gold piece of jewelry is also known as the American State Visit brooch.
The nod to the former presidents has been seen by some as a subtle jab at Trump, who was greeted on his U.K. visit by hundreds of thousands of protesters
The queen met with Trump and first lady Melania Trump on Friday for tea at Windsor Castle. The visit was not without controversy, as Trump was caught on video walking in front of the Elizabeth — not a breach of protocol, but widely seen as a sign of disrespect.
Princes William and Charles reportedly refused to meet with Trump, though the palace denied the reports.
Trump praised the Elizabeth as an “incredible woman” in an interview with British tabloid The Sun ahead of his visit. In the same interview, he railed against British Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans for Brexit, comments that sparked major backlash from British lawmakers.
The Obamas visited the U.K. multiple times while in office, and are known to be close with both William and Harry and their families. Neither the Trumps nor the Obamas were invited to Harry's recent wedding to American actress Meghan Markle, as the couple decided against having any official political guests in attendance.
Bitbury on July 18th, 2018 at 12:38 UTC »
Just to give a little bit of context: the queen isn’t allowed to make public statements regarding her opinion on policy or politicians, foreign or domestic.
Part of the way the UK constitution works is that the Monarch is the head of state more or less in name only. She represents the UK on the world stage, but only in a ceremonial sense.
Now imagine that’s you. You’ve been raised all your life to never make your feelings about politicians known. You can’t even jump onto Reddit to comment “I don’t care about this, it’s not even news”.
The queen, it seems, uses her attire to leave a little room for creative ambiguity. At the last opening of Parliament she wore a hat that was basically an EU flag, on this occasion she wore a brooch given to her by a former US president. That’s about as explicit as she’s allowed to get without causing a constitutional crisis.
MisterMysterios on July 18th, 2018 at 08:25 UTC »
I heard it went even further. At the day of arrival Obamas. Later, she wore the one of Trudeau, and during the meeting with Trump personally, she wore the funeral brooch, the one that is normally exclusivly worn as the name suggests.
lmolari on July 18th, 2018 at 06:33 UTC »
This old girl really loves to deliver messages with her clothing.
On the brexit referendum - where she was ment to stay neutral - she also made an impressive point.