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Michelle Obama Just Revealed the Real Reason Why She Hugged the Queen

Photo credit: Shutterstock
Photo credit: Shutterstock

From Harper's BAZAAR

Nine years ago, then-First Lady Michelle Obama met Queen Elizabeth II and accidentally committed a royal faux pas by putting her arm around the monarch. Touching, let alone embracing, Her Majesty is widely considered a no-no, but the former FLOTUS couldn't help showing some love to the sovereign. In her new book Becoming, Obama opens up about her blunder-turned-bonding moment with the Queen.

Photo credit: The White House - Getty Images
Photo credit: The White House - Getty Images

It turns out the duo was having a relatable conversation about their uncomfortable shoes during their rendezvous ahead of the 2009 G-20 summit, according to a Becoming excerpt published in The Telegraph.

The Queen told Obama at the time, "You're so tall." The former first lady replied that her Jimmy Choo heels gave her a few extra inches. Then, Her Majesty "gestured with some frustration at her own black pumps" and said, "These shoes are unpleasant, are they not?"

Obama continues in the memoir:

"I confessed then to the Queen that my feet were hurting. She confessed that hers hurt, too. We looked at each other then with identical expressions, like, When is all this standing around with world leaders going to finally wrap up? And with this, she busted out with a fully charming laugh."



The former FLOTUS goes on to joke in her memoir that she and the Queen were "just two tired ladies oppressed by our shoes."

As for the hug, Obama explains, "I then did what’s instinctive to me any time I feel connected to a new person, which is to express my feelings outwardly. I laid a hand affectionately across her shoulder."

Photo credit: REX/Shutterstock
Photo credit: REX/Shutterstock

In the moment, she didn't realize she was breaking royal protocol. "If I hadn’t done the proper thing at Buckingham Palace, I had at least done the human thing," she says in the book.

Despite the slip-up, Obama hopes the Queen "was okay" with the unexpected embrace, "because when I touched her, she only pulled closer, resting a gloved hand lightly on the small of my back."


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