Mediaboss Marketing

London: Coincidence or a subliminal message? Queen Elizabeth has stirred up social media as she opened parliament in a hat looking very much like a European Union flag.

Delivering a formal speech in which Prime Minister Theresa May's government laid out its strategy for exiting the EU, the monarch sported a blue chapeau decorated with an arc of blue flowers each with a bright yellow disc at its centre.

Play Video Don't Play

Play Video Don't Play

Previous slide Next slide

Queen Elizabeth II said the UK government will work to secure the best possible deal on leaving the EU, as she addressed the State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday.

Play Video Don't Play

The Australian government is offering support to the Philippines as its military battles Islamist militants aligned with Islamic State. National Security correspondent David Wroe explains.

Play Video Don't Play

In an interview with US magazine Newsweek, Prince Harry has said nobody in his family wants to be king or queen.

Play Video Don't Play

The fatal bashing of a Muslim girl with a baseball bat has sparked outrage in the US, but police say there is nothing yet to indicate it was a hate crime.

Play Video Don't Play

The embattled White House press secretary has not had an easy time in the spotlight, but he could have gotten a few facts (and names) straight.

Play Video Don't Play

There was yoga in Stonehenge and festivals in France, but the bravest celebration may have been in Tasmania.

Play Video Don't Play

On August 21st, for the first time in almost a century, a total solar eclipse will reach across the United States, plunging a strip over 100 kilometres wide, into darkness.

Play Video Don't Play

There are also concerns about the impact of a change of succession in Saudi Arabia on the oil market, David Pollard reports.

Queen Elizabeth II said the UK government will work to secure the best possible deal on leaving the EU, as she addressed the State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday.

It was all a bit Brussels and Strasbourg, where the EU flag a blue ensign with a circle of yellow stars on it holds pride of place,

"Queen delivers speech outlining Brexit plans wearing a hat that looks suspiciously like a EUROPEAN flag," the right-wing, anti-EU Daily Mail newspaper tweeted.

Some thought it might have been deliberate on the Queen's part.

"A bit like her insisting on driving the Saudi king! Subtle royal politics," Simon Hix, political science professor at London School of Economics tweeted.

Get the latest news and updates emailed straight to your inbox.

As head of state, the British monarch refrains from taking public positions on political issues.

A headline published in British tabloid The Sun last year claiming that the Queen "backed Brexit", prompted official denials and a complaint to press regulators, which ruled that it was significantly misleading.

USPresident Donald Trump's proposed visit to the UKlater this year was conspicuous by its absence from the Queen's speech.

Despite Mr Trump accepting an invitation for a state visit during the prime minister's visit to Washington in January, the queen only said she and her husband Prince Philip "look forward to welcoming" the king and queen of Spain in July.

State visits have traditionally been announced by the monarch in her speeches to Parliament.

There were protests after Mr Trump was invited so soon after his inauguration, and Mrs May said on June 6 that the president was "wrong" to criticise London Mayor Sadiq Khan over his response to the London Bridge terrorist attack that killed eight people.

Mr Trump used Twitter to accuse Mr Khan of being "pathetic," in contrast to Mrs May saying that the mayor, a member of the opposition Labour Party, was "doing a good job."

Britain is trying to persuade Mr Trump to sign a post-Brexit trade deal.

While his predecessor Barack Obama said Britain would be "at the back of the queue" if it voted to leave the European Union, Mr Trump initially promised a quick deal with the UKbefore appearing to prioritisean agreement with the bloc it is leaving.

Former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe said in February that the visit would take place in June and the force was preparing for "lots of protests."

That was before Mrs May called the June 8 election that cost her Conservative Party its parliamentary majority and a fire in a London apartment block killed dozens and led to anti-government protests on the streets.

The prospect of Mr Trump being greeted with demonstrations was only one aspect of planning for the proposed visit by the head of state of a crucial ally to Britain.

The speaker of the House of Commons also made it clear that he would not be allowed to address Parliament.

"I feel very strongly our opposition to racism and to sexism and our support for equality before the law and an independent judiciary are hugely important considerations in the House of Commons," John Bercow said when explaining his decision in February.

Asked about the state visit earlier this month, the London mayor said: "I don't think we should be rolling out the red carpet to the president of the USA in the circumstances where his policies go against everything we stand for."

The absence of Mr Trump's visit from the speech is a far cry from the way the invitation was announced in the early days of his presidency.

"I have today been able to convey Her Majesty the Queen's hope that President Trump and the First Lady would pay a state visit to the United Kingdom later this year and I'm delighted that the president has accepted that invitation," Mrs May said in a press conference in the White House in January.

Reuters, Bloomberg

Continue reading here:
Queen Elizabeth stirs social media with hat resembling the European Union flag - The Sydney Morning Herald