Breaking Protocol While Meeting the Queen of England: Eliminating Formality?

It's quite clear based on the London meeting of Queen Elizabeth II with Barack and Michelle Obama on April 1 that the Queen is undoing the protocol of the royals going back centuries. Some of the media played up the idea that it was near sacrilege to break the procedure of the royals when Michelle Obama shook hands with the Queen and later patted each other on the back. But actions sometimes speak louder than protocol. The Queen was making a statement right there that she thinks the royal protocol for meeting people is outdated--right along with the idea that you'll turn into a pillar of salt if you touch her with any sign of affection. Questions still remain, though, whether it's just the Queen who wants to break with the protocol or if she stands alone and her husband, Prince Philip, still wants to uphold it.

Considering Philip seems to always uphold tradition in the royal family (sometimes to the detriment of his reputation), it wouldn't be surprising if he said something behind the scenes that reflected his disgust for the lack of protocol during the Obama meeting. Because he likely has to go along with what his wife wants to do, perhaps it was given a pass for the sake of good relations. This isn't to say that if he shows any dismay over the Windsor traditions slowly disappearing, he hasn't had to deal with it long before now.

If you go by a timeline, evidence exists that the Queen has been slowly devolving the protocol during greetings with world leaders since 1991. You may remember the brouhaha brought up in the media that year when the Queen came to America for a couple of weeks--only to be hugged by a woman running a housing project in Washington, D.C. The woman (Alice Frazier) was berated by the media about as much as Michelle Obama has been at the time of this writing. Yet, Queen Elizabeth didn't recoil when Frazier reached out to hug Her Royal Highness.

Despite being out of touch with her own public in the days before a mending of public trust took place in the wake of Princess Diana's death, the Queen was likely smart enough to know that much of the protocol the royals had in place was archaic long before '91. As cold as she's been perceived by her people, those who've had the rare opportunity to talk to the Queen at length say she's as sharp as a tack, has a wicked sense of humor and can be quite warm when approached at the right time. By default of how any normal person's personality operates, when you have the Queen's awesome responsibility, perpetual loneliness is almost the name of the game. That brings a longing for some kind of affection, particularly during the significant moments of meeting important allies.

The best case for that was when Australian Prime Minister of the early to mid 90's, Paul Keating, decided to get a bit daring and put his arm around the Queen during a photo session. When this happened in 1992, it was the media in Britain that went ballistic over the literal gesture. Queen Elizabeth, however, seemed to enjoy the affection (no, we won't get into how good or bad her marriage has been to Philip) and became quite close to PM Keating afterward. John Howard, the next Prime Minister of Oz, did the same thing a number of years later while being spared by the relentless international media who uphold the knowingly dated royal customs.
_____

Of course, the Queen might think there's a difference between breaking formality with world leaders as compared to commoners. Even though she's had only two commoners in her life touch her during a meeting, neither one brought on a condemnation from her at the time it happened. It places the Queen perhaps in a situation where if she no longer upholds the protocol, should she make a (informal) announcement to Great Britain and the world that it doesn't matter anymore? With the above-mentioned truth that the media upholds the tradition, the Queen probably realizes that doing away with it would be like trying to destroy DNA inside a person's body.

When in such a situation, what can royalty do to slowly phase it out? If 18 years of evolving hints doesn't help, then all that can be done in a similar situation again will be Buckingham Palace politely telling the press that the Queen wasn't offended. But then that lack of offense may be in the royal blood anyway. Back in the 1890's during Queen Victoria's rule, a black woman from Liberia named Martha Ann Ricks saved up all her money for the opportunity to meet the Queen and completely broke protocol when both met. Because it took half a century for Ricks to get there and meet the Queen she admired, a hearty handshake took place between the two that went on much longer than the one between Queen Elizabeth and Michelle Obama.

In fact, African-American historians are pointing out that it was three black women (Hicks, above-mentioned Frazier and Obama) as being the three most noteworthy people in history to not refrain from warmly touching their generation's Queen. There won't be any speculation here why that's the case other than noting the vagaries of coincidence. Because they were women, they weren't spared from the press snarling at the breaking of protocol, so it has nothing to do with gender either.

History notes that Queen Victoria was delighted when Hicks adamantly shook her hand in 1892. The Queen's reasons for not being offended were undoubtedly the same as Queen Elizabeth's: The desire for affectionate contact with any human being was sorely desired in such a lonely job. Every indication is there that Queen Victoria longed for more personal contact--including through real love if the behind-the-scenes love story of her and John Brown had any veracity.

For Queen Elizabeth, the current affectionate outpouring of touching a fellow leader may be more about getting relations to the point where things won't unravel as they've come close to doing recently. The Royals find it mandatory to work well with the Obamas...outside of probably feeling a little starstruck with them as every other world leader seems to be when standing nearby. After all, the job the Queen has isn't really designed for a normal human being who doesn't mind a pat on the back every few years...

Sources:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/G20/article6022502.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=5981745

http://blackthreads.blogspot.com/2009/04/michelle-obama-alice-frazier-and-martha.html