--- title: Trump Committed a Faux Pas While Walking With the Queen description: President Donald Trump briefly walked in front of Queen Elizabeth II on Friday, causing an uproar online about the faux pas. canonical: https://time.com/5338917/trump-walking-ahead-queen-elizabeth/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-14T20:11:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T09:34:21.795Z og:title: Trump Committed a Royal Faux Pas With the Queen og:description: The internet did not let it go unnoticed og:url: https://time.com/5338917/trump-walking-ahead-queen-elizabeth/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt956bcbcedc2f9393/69893562096a944beb6a2eb8/trump-queen-elizabeth.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4440 og:image:height: 2498 og:image:alt: The President Of The United States And Mrs Trump Meet HM Queen og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Committed a Royal Faux Pas With the Queen twitter:description: The internet did not let it go unnoticed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt956bcbcedc2f9393/69893562096a944beb6a2eb8/trump-queen-elizabeth.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Committed a Royal Faux Pas During His Visit With the Queen > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=fd900eb9-db61-49f4-8afb-1253c20deca5&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Committed a Royal Faux Pas During His Visit With the Queen [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Committed a Royal Faux Pas During His Visit With the Queen](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PWaLZUlv.m3u8) (0:35)  _Published 2018-07-14. The internet is up in arms over a breach in royal etiquette President Donald Trump committed during his visit with Queen Elizabeth II on Friday._  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jul 14, 2018 8:11 PM UTC The internet is up in arms over a breach in royal etiquette President Donald Trump committed during his visit with Queen Elizabeth II on Friday.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jul 14, 2018 8:11 PM UTC The internet is up in arms over a breach in royal etiquette President Donald Trump committed during his visit with Queen Elizabeth II on Friday. A video making the rounds online shows Trump briefly walking ahead of the Queen as they strolled the grounds of Windsor Castle. The Queen appears to gesture Trump forward, at which point he steps in front of her and walks a few paces before pausing, apparently unsure of where she is. > [](https://twitter.com/rtenews/status/1017808323465416704) The awkward interaction amounted to a minor faux pas on Trump’s part, as it is considered rude to turn your back to the Queen, [according to the BBC](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40668579), or to walk ahead of her. Trump was reportedly also 12 minutes late to their [appointment to have tea](http://time.com/5338320/queen-elizabeth-trump-meeting/), although some have [contested that assertion.](https://twitter.com/victoriaarbiter?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1017818660147261440&ref%5Furl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Fpolicy-and-politics%2F2018%2F7%2F14%2F17571986%2Ftrump-walks-in-front-of-queen) People on social media did not let the gaffe go unnoticed. > [](https://twitter.com/TNeenan/status/1017856988506742784) > [](https://twitter.com/girlsreallyrule/status/1018180059868393473) > [](https://twitter.com/David%5FDowse1/status/1018144237131575298) It’s not uncommon for Americans to struggle with royal etiquette when meeting the royal family. In 2009, for example, Michelle Obama broke with protocol by [putting her arm around the Queen](http://time.com/5337779/trump-queen-elizabeth-visit-etiquette/) — a gesture the monarch returned. ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5338917/trump-walking-ahead-queen-elizabeth/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5338917/trump-walking-ahead-queen-elizabeth/"},"headline":"President Trump Committed a Royal Faux Pas During His Visit With the Queen","datePublished":"2018-07-14T20:11:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-12T09:34:21.795Z","description":"The internet did not let it go unnoticed","url":"https://time.com/5338917/trump-walking-ahead-queen-elizabeth/","keywords":["Newsfeed","royals","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt956bcbcedc2f9393/69893562096a944beb6a2eb8/trump-queen-elizabeth.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt956bcbcedc2f9393/69893562096a944beb6a2eb8/trump-queen-elizabeth.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The President Of The United States And Mrs Trump Meet HM Queen","caption":"The President Of The United States And Mrs Trump Meet HM Queen","creditText":"WPA Pool—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5338917/trump-walking-ahead-queen-elizabeth/","name":"President Trump Committed a Royal Faux Pas During His Visit With the Queen"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump Committed a Royal Faux Pas During His Visit With the Queen","description":"The internet is up in arms over a breach in royal etiquette President Donald Trump committed during his visit with Queen Elizabeth II on Friday.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/PWaLZUlv/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-07-14T20:15:59.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PWaLZUlv.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5338917/trump-walking-ahead-queen-elizabeth/","duration":"PT35S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5338917/trump-walking-ahead-queen-elizabeth/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```