In Britain, it was the hot mic to end all hot mics.
Prime Minister David Cameron, in New York City this week, was caught telling ex-Mayor Michael Bloomberg that Queen Elizabeth had positively "purred" when she found out that Scottish voters had chosen to stay with Great Britain in an independence referendum earlier this month.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The weird skeeziness of the comment did not go over well with Her Majesty's subjects. "It's as though the 88-year-old monarch were some moggy whose tummy clever Cameron had tickled until the old thing was beside herself with pleasure," wrote Allison Pearson of The Telegraph. (A moggy is a cat.) Also, Cameron inadvertently acted as a spokesman for the Queen's supposed political views — views that, as a constitutional monarch, she is supposed to refrain from expressing. He now says he will apologize to the Queen personally.
Still, this isn't as embarrassing as that time Cameron tried to play ping pong.
-
Trump-Putin: would land swap deal end Ukraine war?Today's Big Question Ukraine ready to make 'painful but acceptable' territorial concessions – but it still might not be enough for Vladimir Putin
-
The truth about sunscreenThe Explainer The science behind influencer claims that sun cream is toxic
-
Blue whales have gone silent and it's posing troubling questionsUnder the radar Warming oceans are the answer
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homesSpeed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creatureSpeed Read
