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France's First Lady Brigitte Macron faces awkward faux pas as she tries to hold Queen Camilla's hand at D-Day memorial
French President Emmanuel Macron's wife Brigitte Macron faced an embarrassing moment at the D-Day memorial on Thursday, leaving bystanders wincing.
French President Emmanuel Macron's wife Brigitte Macron faced an embarrassing moment at the D-Day memorial on Thursday, leaving bystanders wincing.
Queen Camilla and Brigitte Macron opted to wear stunning white dresses for the service and laid wreaths of flowers at the British Normandy Memorial at Ver-sur-Mer.
After placing the bouquet, they both paused to dwell on the moment, and Brigitte reached out for Queen's gloved hand.
However, Camilla retracted and neglected the gesture for a time, and Macron's wife grabbed it.
The France's First Lady dropped the monarch's hand after a gentle squeeze, and the two stood next to one another in front of the memorial, reflecting on the significance of the monument.
While Brigitte made a nice gesture, getting close and personal the Royal Family members is usually frowned upon.
Netizens react as Queen ignores loving gesture by Brigitte Macron
Reacting to the viral video, some netizens backed Queen Camilla for maintaining the distance following Royal protocol, while others blasted her for not reacting to Brigitte's gesture.
“Awkward is Consort did not reciprocate,” one X user wrote.
“Protocol sometimes gets in the way of humanity,” another reacted.
A third user chimed in, “You never touch the Queen,” while others stated, “Camilla’s been a ‘Queen’ for about a second. She should have appreciated the loving gesture and held her hand.”
The Royal website maintains that no compulsory codes of conduct apply while meeting the members of the Royal Family, although they have been following an unwritten rule that one should not try to be too nice.
The late Queen Elizabeth was well-known for maintaining a solid distance from her followers.
Meanwhile, French President Macron was slammed for making King Charles and Queen Camilla wait as arrived for the D-Day memorial ceremony 20 minutes late.
“While the King and Queen of England were already installed, Emmanuel Macron and his wife arrived twenty minutes late for the Franco-British ceremony, which shocked the English,” Cnews said.
Also Read: King Charles, Queen Camilla moved to tears hearing heartbreaking story at D-Day 80th anniversary
Tom Cruise, Michelle Obama made similar mistakes in past
Other than Brigitte Macron, Hollywood icon Tom Cruise and US former first lady Michelle Obama had committed the similar blunder.
The actor offered Princess of Wales Kate Middleton his hand to help her climb the stairs at the Top Gun: Maverick premiere.
During her meeting with late Queen Elizabeth in 2009, Michelle Obama wrapped her arm around her in an act of affection.
10 years later when Obama attended a 2019 London promotional event for her memoir stated that it was a “natural human reaction” to become so close to Queen Elizabeth.
Reflecting on world leaders, she mentioned that there are some people who follow certain etiquettes, while others don't want it at all.
“So you wonder, well, who are you doing this for? Because they don't want it, we don't want it. But it's just the way things are. So I don't know that I could have done anything differently because it was a natural human reaction.”
