How the Queen secretly threw Donald Trump some serious shade with her brooches
As Britain’s longest serving monarch, the Queen has become expert at remaining perfectly poised when greeting official dignitaries, from those with whom she’s quite smitten (hello, Trudeau) to those with whom she’d probably rather not share a pot of tea.
On Friday, as Prince Charles and Prince William left the Queen to receive Donald and Melania Trump at Windsor Castle on her own (it was, apparently, a working visit not a state visit, so all were exempt bar her royal highness), she received the American duo with her usual professionalism and grace.
But wait, did she? Could she, in actual fact, have thrown some serious shade at Trump via the three brooches she chose to wear over the course of his visit?
One eagle-eyed Twitter user, @SamuraiKnitter, known as Julie, certainly believed her choices signified a definite, if very nuanced, slight and posted a Twitter thread on Friday that’s now gone viral.
The first potential snub:
It looks today like the Queen is wearing the brooch the Obamas gifted her in 2011? I could be wrong... pic.twitter.com/fLMaYc7mAD
— Order of Splendor (@orderofsplendor) July 12, 2018
The day Trump arrived, the Queen chose to wear the brooch that Trump's predecessor President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama gave her during their last state visit to England. Obama reportedly personally bought the 14-karat yellow gold, diamond and agate pin from a jewellery store in D.C. as a personal gift to her majesty Queen. Beat that Donald.
“The US has given QE jewelry before over the years and I bet her dresser could put hands on any and all of it given five minutes. But she chose the most SENTIMENTAL piece in the collection, the one that was given OUT OF FRIENDSHIP WITH THE OBAMAS AS PEOPLE.”
Second possible brooch brush-off
The next day the Queen had an audience with the King and Queen of Belgium, for which she chose to wear the Sapphire Jubilee Brooch, gifted to her last year by Canada.
Julie goes on: "You know, who Trump's been screaming about and insulting. The commonwealth country and one of the UK's greatest allies. Them."
Coincidence? Maybe. But let's move on to the next brooch.
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Finally for her tea with Trump and Melania, she wore a diamond brooch she inherited from the Queen Mother.
And for the day of the tea, QE wore an innocuous 'nice but not holy shit, considering what's in the vaults' diamond brooch she inherited from her mother. pic.twitter.com/YtAqCJBceq
— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 15, 2018
“Jewel watchers nearly died, because it is the brooch worn in the famous 'Three Queens in Mourning' photo, worn by the Queen Mum," Julie writes.
"QE rolled up to tea with the Trumps wearing the brooch her mother wore to her father's STATE FUNERAL."
Julie also notes that the suit the Queen chose to wear may have had some negative significance.
Adding more data from a friend, about QE's outfit.
The suit she wore to tea is the exact same one she wore to open Parliament after the post-Brexit reorganization. "I think this is now her Official Outfit of Don't Wanna."— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 15, 2018
There is, and will never be, any proof that the Queen intentionally meant to send Trump subliminal slight with her the bling pinned to her lapel.
I still... y'all... I can't communicate the jewel watcher's reaction when QE showed up with that paisley brooch on. Eyes nearly fell out.
— Bitch. STILL my superhero name. (@SamuraiKnitter) July 16, 2018
But, frankly, with so much non-controversial jewellery in her arsenal, and so few means of telling the world what she really thinks, the coincidences does seem too great to be entirely accidental.