OK, in the absence of any more weighty issues confronting the gay community today, let me see if anyone wants to comment on the following.

I saw the TV coverage of Laura Bush shaking hands with the Queen as they were leaving Buckingham Palace yesterday. Laura was wearing gloves, the Queen wasn’t. Laura didn’t remove her glove before shaking the Queen’s hand.

I’ve always been taught it’s just basic good manners to remove the glove on your right hand when you’re about to shake someone else’s. I can’t believe Laura wouldn’t know that, or at least that her handlers would remind her.

Has this rule of etiquette been relaxed? Is the protocol different when shaking hands with royalty? Or did Laura just flub the situation?

In response to the question about whether a lady should remove her gloves before shaking hands, Miss Manners has replied: "Indeed not, unless she is a lady subject to uncontrollable bursts of enthusiasm for direct human contact, in which case Miss Manners prefers the naked handshake to the promiscuous and noisy kissing of near-strangers. Truly unforgivable behavior when wearing gloves consists of eating, drinking, smoking, and saying, 'Pardon my glove.' Gentlemen remove their gloves when shaking hands. Please do not expect Miss Manners to justify this discrepancy on any basis of logic, morality, or equal opportunity."

So it seems Laura Bush behaved properly--in this instance.

~Adam

It's possible that Mrs. Bush wanted to conceal her sweaty palms which people often get when meeting Royalty, or her callouses from lifting in the Buckingham Palace gym that morning. wink