It was dignifying to see and hear President Barack Obama, standing with glass in hand, and inviting others to do the same as he proposed a toast to, "Her Majesty the Queen." And the band played, and yet he continued to speak, delivering two more lines of respect and gratitude. And despite that faux pas it didn't really matter on such an occasion. It appears, however, that a BBC reporter needs a little education. To quote from the BBC News website:
To conclude, the president proposed a toast to the Queen, but there appeared to be a mistake as the band played the opening bars to God Save the Queen before he had finished.
A mistake on whose part? Certainly not on the part of the band. The musical cue at events such as these is a simple one. It is the words, "The Queen." Then the baton is raised and the opening bars of the anthem are played. Don't blame the band, and don't blame the President of the United States of America. Blame his protocol advisors, and then pile shame and blame on the pig-ignorance of the BBC, who ought to know better when commenting on such events.
1 comment:
The only people in Britain who get uptight about this sort of thing are the royal commentators in our media and they are simply justifying their salaries.
The Queen is probably the best practitioner of diplomatic protocol in the world but part of that protocol, as she has demonstrated all her life, is to be completely unaffected by lapses in protocol by people whose lives are mainly about other things. The only time we have ever seen her slightly annoyed is when people invade her personal space by overfamiliarity (Reagan touching her up being an example. Heck, I get just as annoyed at being touched by people I'm not married to so I think we can put the Queen's reaction down to just being English.
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