Michelle Obama explained why she would not try to hug King Charles III despite breaking protocol back in 2009 by hugging Queen Elizabeth II.
The former First Lady addressed how she’d interacted with the King during a recent interview with BBC Breakfast to promote her new book, The Light We Carry.
During the conversation, she participated in a round of quick-fire questions, where the host Naga Munchetty mentioned how Obama previously made headlines for putting her arm around the Queen during a visit for a G20 summit at Buckingham Palace.
“There was a huge reaction when you broke protocol, when you hugged the Queen,” Munchetty said. “Would you hug the King?”
In response, Obama noted that she wouldn’t be the one to intiate a hug.
“I would stand down until I was touched,” she said. “Or hugged.”
While there aren’t any legal rules in place, it is accepted that people should not touch a royal family member, unless the royal is the one who initiates contact.
This wasn’t Obama’s first time addressing how she broke royal protocol. While speaking at the O2 arena in London in 2019, the attorney was asked if she had wished that she’d behaved differently around the Queen.
In response, she said “no”, noting how she thought that putting her arm around the Queen was the “right” and “human thing to do”. She also shared her thoughts about the unofficial royal protocol.
“What is true among world leaders is that there are people who handle protocol, and usually the people they’re representing don’t want all that protocol,” she said at the time, via Elle. “So you wonder well, who are you doing this for because they don’t want it, we don’t want it.”
In her 2018 memoir, Becoming, Obama also addressed why she hugged the Queen.
“The Queen glanced down at the pair of black Jimmy Choos I was wearing. She shook her head. ‘These shoes are unpleasant, are they not?’ she said. She gestured with some frustration at her own black pumps. I confessed then to the Queen that my feet were hurting. She confessed that hers hurt, too,” Obama wrote.
She explained that after Queen “busted out with fully charming laugh,” she affectionately placed her hand on the royal’s shoulder out of “instinct.” She was unaware that she was “committing what would be deemed an epic faux pas”.
Obama further emphasised why she did this gesture and said that the Queen reacted nicely to it.
“If I hadn’t done the proper thing at Buckingham Palace, I had at least done the human thing,” she added. “I daresay the Queen was OK with it too, because when I touched her, she pulled closer, resting a gloved hand lightly on the small of my back.”
The 58-year-old and her husband, Barack Obama, have maintained a close relationship with the monarch over the years. Following her death, the couple shared a joint statement to pay tribute and reflected on their relationship with the Queen.
“Michelle and I were lucky enough to come to know Her Majesty, and she meant a great deal to us,” the statement on the pair’s Twitter account reads. “Back when we were just beginning to navigate life as President and First Lady, she welcomed us to the world stage with open arms and extraordinary generosity.”
