Did Princess Anne Actually Snub Donald Trump?
A viral video captured Princess Anne shrugging at the Queen after she appeared to ignore President Trump.
Princess Anne made headlines this morning when she was caught on camera shrugging at her mother, Queen Elizabeth II, after she appeared to ignore Donald and Melania Trump. Has a simple shrug ever gone so viral?
President Trump and Melania arrived at a reception at Buckingham Palace for NATO leaders on Tuesday evening. In a the video filmed at the event, the president and First Lady are seen shaking hands with the Queen, Prince Charles, and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. The Queen then turns her head and notices Anne standing a few feet away by a door. She says something inaudible, and Anne gives her an exaggerated shrug, saying “it’s just me and this lot” as the group around her chuckles.
On social media, this event has been widely interpreted as Anne purposefully ignoring Trump and getting a subsequent scolding from her mother, which she quite literally shrugs off.
While the public seems to be interpreting Anne’s actions as a political statement, it may not be the case: as CNN reports, only Charles and Camilla were supposed to be a part of the official royal welcoming party, so Anne might not have been snubbing anybody at all. Buckingham Palace has yet to comment on the matter (and they probably never will).
As a royal, Princess Anne can’t exactly express much publicly, but she is known for having a dry sense of humor. She also finds shaking hands to be “patently absurd,” so who knows what really happened here.
The princess was also filmed alongside British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte laughing as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau candidly mocked Trump’s behavior at the NATO conference, joking about his need to hold an unscheduled press conference. While Trump is never named explicitly, on Wednesday morning Trudeau admitted that he was discussing the US President after Trump called him “two-faced.”
Related: The Royals and the Trumps Unite in Pretending Prince Andrew Doesn’t Exist
Princess Anne Is a Modern Fashion Icon Hiding in Plain Sight
Princess Anne at the Chelsea Flower Show in London, two days after Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s royal wedding, May 2018.
Princess Anne on the grounds of Sandringham House, February 1970.
Princess Anne with her arm in a sling after she fell off her horse in Kiev, Russia, for a championship competition, September 1973.
Princess Anne on the opening day of the 2010 Olympic Games in London, July 2012.
Princess Anne on the grounds of the Windsor International Horse Trials in Windsor, May 2004.
Princess Anne on a visit to Kiev, Russia, September 1973.
Princess Anne on the course of the first Gatcombe Park Horse Trials in Glouchestershire, August 1983.
Princess Anne at a theater in London, September 1973.
Princess Anne at the Windsor Horse Trials in Windsor Great Park, May 1984.
Princess Anne at the Derby in Epsom, 1983.
Princess Anne at Horse Trials in the U.K. with members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, 1968.
Princess Anne with her cell phone and walkie-talkie at the Whatley Manor Horse Trials at Gatcombe Park in Stroud, September 2017.
Princess Anne at age 23, with her fiancé Captain Mark Phillips, at the London premiere of Jesus Christ Superstar, August 1973.
Princess Anne at John Smith’s Grand National horse racing meeting in Liverpool, April 2011.
Princess Anne on a visit to the Ackworth Group of the Riding for the Disabled Association, June 1983.
Princess Anne at St Giles’ Cathedral’s Thistle Service in Edinburgh, July 2016.
Princess Anne with Queen Elizabeth II and her grandson, Peter Phillips, at the baby’s christening, December 1977.
Princess Anne in Gambia for Save the Children, February 1984.
Princess Anne and her second husband Timothy Laurence at the 2016 Braemar Highland Gathering in Scotland, September 2016.
Princess Anne, pregnant with her daughter Zara, and her husband Mark Phillips, in Great Somerford, May 1981.
Princess Anne on a visit to Zagorsk, Russia, May 1990.
Princess Anne with her children Peter and Zara At the Royal Windsor Horse Show, May 1984.
Princess Anne at a parade at Sandhurst Military Academy, August 1973.
Princess Anne at the race course of the Cheltenham Festival, March 2017.
Princess Anne at the Save The Children Festival Of Trees in London, ca. 2000s.
