Queen Elizabeth jokes helicopters are like American presidents: 'They always go round and round when you want to talk'

(Image credit: Simon Dawson - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

published 10 April 2018

A new interview excerpt of Queen Elizabeth speaking with David Attenborough for ITV shows the pair walking the grounds of Buckingham Palace, their conversation frustrated by the noise of a loud helicopter buzzing overhead. "Why do they always go round and round when you want to talk?" the queen jokes. "Sounds like President Trump — or President Obama."

Whether she meant the presidents themselves or their aircraft is up for interpretation: The Hill reads it as a swipe at Trump's speaking style, with Obama mentioned as an afterthought to avoid political commentary. Politico, however, sees the queen poking fun at the presidents' noisy means of transportation during state visits.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.