WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has wrongly claimed that Queen Elizabeth II inspected her honour guard for the first time in 70 years during his visit to the United Kingdom last week.
Trump made the claim yesterday as he read from a prepared statement at the White House.
"We met with the Queen, who is absolutely a terrific person, where she reviewed her honor guard for the first time in 70 years, they tell me," Trump said, without specifying who "they" were.
"We walked in front of the Honor Guard, and that was very inspiring to see and be with her. And I think the relationship, I can truly say, is a good one.
But she was very, very inspiring indeed," the US president said about the 92-year-old British monarch.
The Queen, who has been on the throne for 66 years, not 70, regularly reviews a guard of honor from the Household Division, CNN reported.
Trump wrongly stated that the honour bestowed upon him by the Queen was one that had not been carried out for decades - which is untrue, British media reported.
The Queen actually inspects her Honour Guard many times a year and does so for important events such as visiting heads of state, The Independent newspaper noted.
Of the president's claims, royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told paper: "This is obviously total fiction." In 2011 the Queen reviewed the Honour Guard when she met visiting US President Barack Obama.
A number of people mocked Trump's comments on Twitter.
Earlier, Trump had faced social media criticism for walking in front of the Queen as the two inspected the guard of honor on Friday.
After he came to a halt, Elizabeth caught up and gestured for him to continue, so that they walked along side by side.
Trump's move to walk in front of the Queen didn't technically break royal protocol, Fitzwilliams was quoted as saying by CNN.
That said, Trump still looked like he "might as well have been wandering up and down a golf course," he said.
"It proves he (Trump) doesn't bother to rehearse, because the thinks he doesn't need to," the royal commentator added.