Queen's health shows signs' of improvement says royal expert

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The soviet astronaut, who was the first man in space, was sent on a worldwide tour in 1961 to promote communism. It was during this tour that he met the Queen, sitting down for breakfast with the monarch. Mr Gagarin’s visit to the UK took place just three months after his historic flight into space.

The flight, which took place on 12 April 1961, lasted just 48 minutes.

Royal author Andrew Morton claimed that Mr Gagarin “dipped his hand to stroke her leg just above the knee”, something which came to “the Queen’s utter astonishment”.

Writing for the Daily Mail, he continued: “With admirable sang froid, she managed to keep a smile on her face as she sipped her coffee.

“Gagarin later explained that he’d touched her leg in order to make sure she was real and not just an animated doll.”

The astronaut, Mr Morton claimed, also admitted he was unsure as to which cutlery to use.

The Queen reportedly responded: “My dear Mr Gagarin, I was brought up in this palace — but believe me, I still don’t know in which order I should use all these forks and knives.”

Royal protocol guides against touching members of the Royal Family unnecessarily.

But Mr Gagarin is not the only public figure to accidentally breach royal protocol.

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The 96-year-old monarch met with Joe Biden in June 2021 ahead of a G7 summit for world leaders.

But the meeting, which took place in temperatures of more than 27C, saw Mr Biden keep his sunglasses on.

Speaking to Newsweek about the gaffe, Grant Harrold, a former butler to Prince Charles and Camilla explained: “If you’re meeting the Queen face-to-face there’s no sunglasses or anything like that at all because eye contact is quite important with any introduction.

“It’s fine for Biden to have had sunglasses on but he should have removed them when he actually met the queen.

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“Everyone else has to, it doesn’t matter who you are, even royals remove sunglasses when they meet royals.”

Former US President Donald Trump has also made a number of blunders when meeting the Queen.

In June 2019, like Mr Gagarin, the Republican leader appeared to touch the Queen’s back.

The incident, which took place during a state banquet, saw Mr Trump put his hand on her back as she rose from her seat.

And in 2009, Michelle Obama broke protocol by hugging the Queen.

In her memoir, Becoming, Ms Obama explained that she “did what’s instinctive to me any time I feel connected to a new person.”

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