Michelle Obama has said the Queen branded royal protocol ‘rubbish’ during a visit to Windsor Castle.
The former US First Lady added that her husband Barack ‘fangirled’ over the monarch, who she described as ‘smart, funny and honest.’
At an event in London last night, Michelle recalled how on their first meeting in 2008, she accidentally broke royal protocol by placing an arm around the UK Head of State.
They had been invited to Buckingham Palace and the two women sought each other out and complained about their painful shoes.
At this point, Michelle placed her arm ‘affectionately across her shoulder.’
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Recalling the global controversy, she laughed: ‘I touched her!’ After all those protocol lessons, I was human.’
In her book Belonging, she added that the Queen returned the gesture of friendship.
‘I daresay that the Queen was okay with it too, because when I touched her, she only pulled closer, resting a gloved hand lightly on the small of my back.’
Several years later, the Obamas were invited to stay at Windsor Castle with the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh.
It was to be the only time in their eight-year tenure that the President and his family were not driven by secret agents.
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It had been agreed by staff beforehand that Prince Philip would drive with Michelle up front with the Queen and Barack in the back.
However, Michelle told the audience at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, the Queen threw a spanner in the works.
She beckoned the First Lady to sit with her in the back, throwing protocol into confusion.
Speaking to Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Michelle recalled: ‘People are talking to other people and then you’re briefed and you’re told “this is going to happen and don’t stand there and don’t touch there and this is precisely what is going on”.
She continued: ‘So I had all this protocol buzzing in my head and I was like “don’t trip down the stairs and don’t touch anybody, whatever you do” and so the Queen says “just get in, sit wherever.”
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‘She’s telling you one thing and you’re remembering protocol and she says “Oh it’s all rubbish, just get in.”’
Michelle told the laughing 2,700-strong audience that husband Barack adores the 92-year-old Queen.
She said she believed she was similar to his late grandmother from Hawaii named Toot.
‘Barack is so incredibly fond of Her Majesty,’ she said.
‘I won’t go into his fangirling but I think it’s because she does remind him of his grandmother Toot.
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‘She’s smart and funny and honest. He is a huge fan for sure.’
It seems the feeling is mutual and it seems the monarch is yet to achieve that level of warmth with current President Donald Trump.
The Queen appeared to make fun of the Obamas when she appeared in an advert for Prince Harry’s Invictus Games last year.
The American couple had challenged her grandson to ‘bring it’ to which the Queen gave a wry smile, adding ‘Oh really, please.’
During Michelle’s brief tour of the UK, she also offered words of advice for Harry’s new American bride Meghan Markle.
Michelle, who suffered many cruel headlines and criticism in her early years, told Good Housekeeping magazine: ‘Like me, Meghan probably never dreamt that she’d have a life like this.
‘The pressure you feel ― from yourself and from others ― can sometimes feel like a lot,’ she said.
‘So my biggest piece of advice would be to take some time and don’t be in a hurry to do anything.’
‘I spent the first few months in the White House mainly worrying about my daughters, making sure they were off to a good start at school and making new friends before I launched into any more ambitious work. I think it’s okay — it’s good, even — to do that,’ Michelle counselled.
She added that ‘Meghan can maximize her impact for others, as well her own happiness, if she’s doing something that resonates with her personally.’