GG breaks royal protocol by touching the Queen
DEFENDS BREACH OF NO-TOUCHING PROTOCOL: STAIRS WERE A ‘LITTLE SLIPPY’
David Johnston, the Governor General, broke royal protocol by not only touching the Queen as they left an event for Canada’s 150th anniversary in London, but by holding her left elbow all the way down a flight of steps.
As they left Canada House in Trafalgar Square on Wednesday, High Commissioner Janice Charette seemed to have had the same instinct, with her hand at the ready, but she held back from making contact.
As a protocol violation, Johnston’s was minor, barely noticeable except to the initiated. It is not as if he put his arm around her, as many people have enthusiastically done over the years, notably Michelle Obama. It did not display the studied insouciance of Pierre Trudeau’s pirouette behind her back, or the rakish charm of Stompin’ Tom Connors’ refusal to remove his hat (which the Queen accepted with, as former governor general Adrienne Clarkson once put it, “royal equanimity”).
But it was unusual that the Queen’s own representative failed to follow the drill in such a prominent situation, and for no reason other than his own concern that the Queen, 91, who does more events like these than any other person in the world, might fall down the steps of Canada House.
“I’m certainly conscious of the protocol,” Johnston told CBC News. “I was just anxious to be sure there was no stumbling on the steps. It’s a little bit awkward, that descent from Canada House to Trafalgar Square, and there was carpet that was a little slippy, and so I thought perhaps it was appropriate to breach protocol just to be sure that there was no stumble.”
The video does not entirely support this explanation. On the way in, she got out of the car without assistance, as Prince Philip stood by, apparently unconcerned about her balance or the tread of her shoes. She went up the steps just fine. And she did not appear to invite the assistance, although she did not obviously decline it, or react at all.
In fact, Johnston appears to have violated protocol twice at the same event, by extending his own hand for a handshake, rather than waiting for the Queen to extend hers.
The Queen is known for taking this sort of thing in stride, such as when Mickey Rooney kissed her hand. Former Australian prime minister Paul Keating got the nickname the Lizard of Oz for putting his hand on her back in 1992.
The website of the royal family says: “There are no obligatory codes of behaviour when meeting The Queen or a member of the Royal Family, but many people wish to observe the traditional forms.” For men, this is a bow of the head; for women, a small curtsy. Other traditional rules include not turning one’s back on her, and not speaking until spoken to. The Queen is also supposed to be the last person to enter a royal engagement, and the first to leave.
Breaking this code is of course not a criminal offence, but it is almost certain to attract clucking from the public and press.
In 1984, for example, Ontario politician James Snow touched her back and elbow as he guided her on a visit, earning himself a “Hands Off Our Queen!” headline from the News of the World.
In 2005, then Prime Minister Paul Martin did much the same thing, putting his hand on the Queen’s back as they were walking past the legislature on a visit to Regina, leading a government spokesman to say: “It’s not an incident at all, it’s not a breach of protocol ... Since it was pouring down and there were umbrellas everywhere the prime minister was just guiding, actually, Her Majesty, and it has happened on several occasions in the past.”
The most notorious, though, was former Thunder Bay mayor Walter “Jolly Wally” Assef, who in 1972 was widely rumoured to have patted the Queen’s bottom, which would not only violate protocol, but certainly also etiquette, even perhaps the criminal law. He always said he was simply guiding her to a chair.
That tour was covered by a young Peter Mansbridge, who later recalled that Assef “had something to say at the podium and gave way to the Queen, and as she was heading up he patted her on a certain part of her back and this made like a huge big deal. Absolutely. You’re not supposed to do that.”
To join such ranks marks a rare misstep for Johnston, though it has little of the reputational risk of the only other one in recent memory, when he clumsily said Canada’s Indigenous peoples were “immigrants” many thousands of years ago. He apologized.
His successor, the astronaut Julie Payette, will take over the office in September.
Johnston also brought a gift from Canada, a sapphire brooch in honour of the Queen’s sapphire jubilee (65 years).
The event was the last official engagement in Prince Philip’s diary before his scheduled retirement at 96.
FOR MEN, A BOW OF THE HEAD; FOR WOMEN, A SMALL CURTSY.