A Royal Source Claims Princess Anne Did Not Intentionally Snub The Trumps
This is terrible news for people who love public acts of pettiness and also hate Donald Trump. The shady shrug felt ’round the world might not have actually been that shady, as it turns out. People magazine says that a British journalist tried to clear the air about Princess Anne’s “These hands are for shrugging, not shaking” gesture at the Buckingham Palace reception for NATO leaders on Tuesday. And according to them, it wasn’t what it looked like.
What we saw in the many videos posted the day after the reception showed Donald and Melania Trump greeting Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, and Duchess Camilla. The Queen then turned to glare in Anne’s direction off to the side, and said something that made Anne throw up her arms, and allegedly respond: “It’s just me and this lot” (aka palace staff). She never stepped up to greet the Trumps, instead choosing to wait back in the doorway. Anne was also seen LOL-ing it up with several NATO leaders as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dragged someone who was most likely Trump. When you put the two together, it looked like Anne is very much not on Team Trump.
Valentine Low, a reporter for The Times, tweeted his perspective. He claims Laura Elston, a royal reporter for the Press Association, was present at the palace for the NATO reception. And according to Laura’s firsthand account told to Valentine, there was no snub, and Anne didn’t get in trouble with mummy.
Instead the Queen, after greeting the Donald (and the Melania), turned to Anne to see who was next. But there wasn't anyone waiting: Trump was the last leader to be received by the Queen.
2/5— Valentine Low (@valentinelow) December 4, 2019
This excellent bit of sleuthing comes from the very wonderful Laura Elston of the Press Association, who is as impartial a witness as you could hope for.
4/5— Valentine Low (@valentinelow) December 4, 2019
So, the truth is now out there. Not that anyone will pay any attention. Anne the Trump Snubber is a much better story.
5/5— Valentine Low (@valentinelow) December 4, 2019
If Laura is to be believed, The Queen was looking at Anne to see who else’s grubby hand she had to shake, and Anne let her know that Trump was the end of the line. That can kind of be confirmed by the video of Trudeau, in which he claimed someone was 40 minutes late to arrive, because they had to hold a press conference first.
There you have it. Princess Anne probably wasn’t refusing to shake Trump’s hand. Although we can still take comfort in knowing The Queen might have been hoping there was at least one other leader to shake hands with, so she had someone to wipe all of Trump’s gross hand sweat off onto. At least that’s what I’m telling myself. And I really shouldn’t be too surprised that the truth of the matter is that The Queen wasn’t pissed at Anne. Although I am a little surprised The Queen didn’t have Buckingham Palace put out a statement to denounce this scandal: “Her Royal Highness would like the public to know that she doesn’t hate Princess Anne. She hates the Sussexes, remember?”
Pic: Twitter