Updated
Photo:
‘The wobble’: Julia Gillard meets the Queen, alongside Quentin Bryce. (AAP: Alex Coppel/Pool)
“The wobble” is how Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s greeting to Queen Elizabeth II is being described after they met in Canberra yesterday.
Ms Gillard chose not to curtsy and instead opted for a head bow when she met the Queen, who had just arrived for her 16th tour of Australia.
But Australia’s queen of etiquette, June Dally-Watkins, has strongly disapproved of Ms Gillard’s greeting.
“I saw the Prime Minister kind of wobble and I didn’t know, did she try to curtsy? I didn’t know what she was doing. I just laughed,” she said.
“I was laughing out loud because I thought it was really hilarious and of course very rude.
“But I just couldn’t understand what that movement was. What was she doing?”
The Queen spent this morning cruising Canberra’s Lake Burley Griffin and visiting the Canberra flower festival, Floriade.
She has no further public engagements today, but Her Majesty will spend this afternoon on a tour of the gardens at Government House in a solar-powered golf cart.
The monarch has asked to be taken to see the kangaroos in the grounds so she can take a photo.
‘No obligatory code’
Photo:
June Dally-Watkins says the PM should have stuck to the traditional greeting. (ABC)
This morning, Ms Gillard said she chose to bow her head as she shook the Queen’s hand because that is what she felt comfortable with.
“The advice to me was very clear – that you can make a choice with what you feel most comfortable with,” she said.
“That’s what I felt most comfortable with. The Queen extended her hand, and I shook her hand.”
The official advice on meeting with the Queen is that there are “no obligatory codes of behaviour – just courtesy”.
“However, many people wish to observe the traditional forms of greeting,” the official Royal website says.
“For men, this is a neck bow (from the head only), whilst women do a small curtsy. Other people prefer simply to shake hands in the usual way.”
But Ms Dally-Watkins says as Prime Minister, Ms Gillard should have gone with the traditional greeting.
She described yesterday’s greeting as the lowest part of Ms Gillard’s life and said instead of bowing her head, she should be hanging it in shame.
“I think it was not only funny, but it was shameful,” she said.
“If she isn’t a royalist, it’s not a matter of that; it’s a matter of paying courtesy, good manners to a queen, to the Queen.
“That was the expected thing to do and I thought not to do that shamed her tremendously.”
Embarrassment
Ms Dally also took issue with the Prime Minister’s outfit choice.
“She should have been wearing a hat; she should have been standing straight; she should have curtsied,” she said.
“I thought that was a great embarrassment for Australia.”
On the other hand, Governor-General Quentin Bryce got full marks for her meeting with the Queen, with Ms Dally-Watkins describing her as “delightful”.
“She did all the right things. I thought she was magnificently dressed and she curtsied beautifully and she was polite,” she said.
“You wouldn’t know what her thoughts were, but she did all the things that were correct and expected of her as the Governor-General, but as the Prime Minister, Julia should have conducted herself the same way.”
But Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese says he does not think petty issues, like the best way to greet the Queen, should overshadow her visit.
Mr Albanese believes all Australians respect the Queen and says how she is greeted should not be a big issue.
“I will be doing whatever the protocols instruct me to do, and that’s appropriate; we’re a modern society,” he said.
Video: Queen enjoys first day of Australia tour
(The Midday Report)
Topics:
royal-and-imperial-matters,
human-interest,
canberra-2600
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stories from Australian Capital Territory
Comments (17)
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ABC (Moderator):
20 Oct 2011 4:54:06pm
What do you think of June Dally-Watkins’ comments?
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ZLP:
20 Oct 2011 5:01:34pm
I think that Ms Dally-Watkins is a great embarrassment for Australia.
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monkeytypist:
20 Oct 2011 5:02:06pm
I think this story, and the way it’s presented on the website, is appalling. “Off with her head” could be interpreted as a call for an assassination. Even if that’s not the case, it’s absurdly partisan, reporting hostile comments against the Prime Minister at length, for a custom not many people think is important. I don’t care what June Dally-Watkins thinks and neither should the person who put this awful piece together.
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Braz:
20 Oct 2011 5:02:45pm
Reminds me of when Paul Keating touched the Queen in the early 90s. No doubt about Labor PMs in this country.
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adros47:
20 Oct 2011 5:03:02pm
FYI, this ain’t news. Don’t report this fluff then lament about the state of Australian journalism.
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David:
20 Oct 2011 5:03:06pm
What does June Dally-Watkins do? I hope she is not living off government funds.
Why should we care about her opinion? I do not beleive anyone voted for her in a community representative manner. I do not believe anyone pays to routinely listen to her either
Why should we listen to anyone about how to move our bodies infront of another?
Why should the ABC publish such a meaningless article? I would hope international politics, not personal bodily movements would be at the height of CHOGM media attention.The PM treated the Queen in a respectful manner. More respectful than she probably would to 99% of the people in this country.
I could not care less if she bowed, courtseye, shook hands, said “g’day, ‘ows its goin'” or whatever else as long as she meant to be respectful.
In the extreemly rare event that someone in an actual position of power (e.g not Ms Watkins) was offended by this action she should privately communicate with that person and say, “sorry, I did not mean to be disrespectful” or something similar and also mention that Australia wishes to be an active, responsible partner in the international community.
Listening to tofffs about exactly what we should say and how our bodies should move is ridiculous in a modern age where we strive for equality.
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Travis Gilbert:
20 Oct 2011 5:03:10pm
June no one cares!
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HarryG:
20 Oct 2011 5:03:23pm
June, go away!
ABC, why publish this rubbish? You’re the National Broadcaster, not the Woman’s Day. -
Rick:
20 Oct 2011 5:03:33pm
Ummm….Maybe get a life
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Mick Byrne:
20 Oct 2011 5:04:13pm
I think June should move to England to be with her beloved queen. It’s this sort of snobbery of sycophancy that makes me hate this country.
Mick
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PeterM:
20 Oct 2011 5:04:36pm
I’m sure the Queen didn’t take offence.
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Sara:
20 Oct 2011 5:05:04pm
I think she is the embarrassment, and how dare she insult our PM in this manner.
Etiquette indeed! -
Andrew:
20 Oct 2011 5:05:05pm
Human fossil June Dally-Watkins makes outdated comment. In other news just in, sun rises, humans to continue to pay tax, people respond to news on message board.
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MikeP:
20 Oct 2011 5:05:25pm
The 1950’s are calling and want their conventions back.
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ET:
20 Oct 2011 5:05:51pm
If only 1000 years hadn’t passed since it mattered…