In a saving face moment, first lady Melania Trump appeared to come to her husband President Donald Trump’s rescue during their UK state visit on Monday when he seemingly failed to recognise a pewter horse statue he had previously given as a gift to Queen Elizabeth II, according to UK media reports.
As the Trumps were being given a tour of Royal Collection artefacts at Buckingham Palace's picture gallery, the president was shown a pewter horse he had given the Queen during his previous visit.
When asked if he recognised the statue, the president responded:
“No,” according to a reporter.
“Yes, this is one of ours,” Melania Trump was reported to have pitched in, rescuing her husband from further embarrassment.
The Trumps had given the pewter horse to Queen Elizabeth II last July at Windsor Castle.
Trump was also shown the pewter horse that he’d given the Queen last year in his visit to Windsor. He was asked if he recognised it and he said “no”! Melania came to his rescue and said “I think we gave that to the Queen”. pic.twitter.com/SaIXvhUb7P
— Emily Andrews (@byEmilyAndrews) June 3, 2019
As Twitter unfailingly swooped in on the account on the incident, some users were more forgiving of the president than others.
Again proving that Melania is worth her weight in tin
— Jo_Hoff #FBPE (@Jo_Hoff) June 3, 2019
"Yeah, I don't think my husband would recognize gifts we'd given someone either," one Twitter user wrote.
Yeah, I don’t think my husband would recognize gifts we’d given someone either 🤦🏻♀️
— Cali M. 🌸 (@CaliMum2016) June 3, 2019
Bingo! Bad prep work by his staff or he didn't listen (since it is said he doesn't read briefings).
— Robbie Deskins (@DeskinsRobbie) June 3, 2019
"And it was something he gave to THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND," one stunned user tweeted.
And it was something he gave to THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND
— Stone-Cold Local Milk Hen (@g0t_86d) June 3, 2019
What if there was a plaque and his insignia on it?
— Dean (@Herne_TheHunter) June 3, 2019
However, when it came to a book of tartans that was opened to a page with the yellow design of the MacLeod clan of Trump’s Scottish Hebridean mother, the President was spot on, though, saying:
"That's my tartan!"
During the tour, the Trumps were also shown golfing memorabilia, and a copy of a draft of a telegram George VI sent to American General Dwight Eisenhower following the invasion of France on D-Day.
Video: the Queen (& @RCT Director Peter Knox) show the Trumps the Declaration of Independence & portraits of George Washington & George III pic.twitter.com/761SvYeB5f
— Emily Andrews (@byEmilyAndrews) June 3, 2019
The Queen shows the Trumps “Scottish links” including a bolt of Harris tweed, a book of tartans and pictures of King Edward VIII as PoW playing golf at St Andrews & her father as duke of York. Trump liked the golf pictures! pic.twitter.com/kASOEAGBMz
— Emily Andrews (@byEmilyAndrews) June 3, 2019
The Queen's gift to the US President on Monday was a 1959 first edition of The Second World War by Winston Churchill in a leather box, her royal cipher and a Duofold pen set.
Melania Trump was presented with a silver box with a hand-crafted enamel lid.
Apparently, the US President’s memory lapse regarding a gift he’d presented to others wasn’t the first.
In December his eldest son Donald Trump Jr. had confessed his father was known to be forgetful about gifts he had provided.
“There was one Christmas where he may or may not have given me the gift that I had given him the year before because I monogrammed it,” Trump Jr. told Extra TV.
“And I'm like, 'I know you didn't get this.' 'How do you know that?' 'Because I gave it to you last year.'”
Donald Trump Jr. called his Dad something of a “regifter”.
