President Joe Biden broke royal protocol on Monday when he met with King Charles, repeating a mistake Donald Trump made five years earlier.
Biden visited Britain to meet with the king and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of the NATO meeting in Lithuania this week. Biden's trip comes after his decision to send Ukraine cluster munitions, a move that has caused friction between the U.S. and other NATO countries.
The president raised eyebrows during his stop at Windsor Castle after he was seen walking ahead of Charles, which is considered a royal "don't" since people are not supposed to turn their backs on the head of the monarchy. Trump made the same mistake when meeting Queen Elizabeth in 2018, cutting off her path when he stepped in front of her. The former president was criticized for not letting the queen walk first, as per protocol.
Also on Monday, Biden was photographed touching Charles while greeting him, shaking his hand and placing a hand on his back. This behavior does not follow typical etiquette for members of the royal family, who are supposed to initiate physical contact first.
"There was that sort of overfamiliarity with the king, which is not conventional," Nile Gardiner, director of the Heritage Foundation's Thatcher Center for Freedom, told Newsweek.
The royal family's website says there are "no obligatory codes of behavior" when meeting members of the family. But it notes that "many people wish to observe the traditional forms," which are a bow from the head for men and a small curtsey for women.
Biden isn't the only U.S. politician to make the mistake of touching a member of the royal family. Trump was also criticized for shaking Elizabeth's hand on several occasions and placing a hand on her back at a 2019 reception at Buckingham Palace. In her memoir, former first lady Michelle Obama described making the "epic faux pas" of putting her arm around the queen.
Following Biden's meeting with Charles, Buckingham Palace insisted that the king did not mind the president's misstep and that he was "entirely comfortable" with Biden touching him.
"What a wonderful symbol of warmth and affection it was between both the individuals and their nations," a Buckingham Palace source told People.
The source also told CNN that "contrary to some reports, that is, in fact, the correct protocol."
Even though Americans may not be familiar with royal protocol, Gardiner said it's important for the president to observe some etiquette practices at a time when there are "growing tensions between London and Washington on several fronts."
"It's unhelpful when you have a president who breaks with protocol and decorum and who many British people see as anti-British," he said.
"He's the president of the United States, so he's not just anybody. But I think this is the way that Biden acts, and he's been very rude about Britain, especially over the Northern Ireland issue," Gardiner added.
Given the recent tensions between the U.S. and other NATO members, like the U.K., Gardiner said royal protocol is especially important but Biden's willingness to forgo those traditions suggests that they don't matter to him.
"This feeds into the general image of Biden as someone who doesn't like Britain, doesn't respect it and clearly doesn't really follow the rules or protocol," he said.
Newsweek reached out by email to the White House for comment.
This is not the first time that Biden has met Charles, nor is it the first time he's been scrutinized over his behavior toward the royal family.
He met with the king during the G7 leaders summit in Cornwall, England, in June 2021; the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2021; and at the queen's funeral in September 2022. Biden did not attend Charles' coronation in May, but it isn't traditional for U.S. presidents to come to that event.
When Biden met Queen Elizabeth in 2021, he was criticized for keeping his sunglasses on during the first half of the meeting. Grant Harrold, who served as a royal butler to then-Prince Charles, previously told Newsweek that when meeting the queen, "face-to-face" eye contact is "quite important" and sunglasses should be removed.
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Katherine Fung is a Newsweek reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and world politics. ... Read more
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