The Queen went on several state visits to the US during her reign, meeting a whole host of Presidents from Dwight Eisenhower to Joe Biden, with Lyndon Johnson the only occupant of the Oval Office she did not meet. She had a particularly close relationship with George HW Bush but there was one particularly hilarious mishap during a state visit to the White House in 1991 that left the monarch being labelled as “the talking hat.”
In May 1991, the Queen arrived at the White House with the Duke of Edinburgh.
President Bush stepped up to the podium to make his opening remarks before making way for the Queen so he could address the crowd.
However, the former CIA director had left the stand as he had found it rather than adjusting it for the much smaller Queen.
As a result, the microphone was too high and covered the monarch’s face from the TV cameras.
This meant that the audience could only see the Queen’s hat moving as she spoke.
The incident made headlines around the world and the image of the Queen’s “talking” purple hat became one of the most infamous from Bush’s time as POTUS.
The former Vice President later spoke of his regret about the incident when speaking to reporters.
He said: “Well, I feel bad I didn’t adjust the speaker’s stand, but she started to speak and I didn’t realize how it would look from a straight angle, or I would have interrupted her.
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The Queen, however, known for her sharp and wicked sense of humour, made light of the incident.
Just days later, as she became the first British monarch to address Congress, she told the audience that she hoped they could see her this time.
Despite the mishap, it was an amicable state visit with the Queen enjoying a State Dinner at the White House and a visit to a baseball game.
