No, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth did not tell Donald Trump to emulate Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte

This article is more than one year old.
Published on September 24, 2018 at 11:00
1 min read
By AFP Philippines

A Facebook post claims that Britain’s Queen Elizabeth told world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, to emulate and follow in the footsteps of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. A check of the Queen’s public engagements, speeches, and Royal Family social media accounts, shows that no such statement was made. As head of state, the Queen is obliged to remain politically neutral.

A Facebook post that was shared hundreds of times claims that the Queen made the comments while talking about the political situation in Catalonia on February 20, 2018.

“World leaders must emulate Philippine President Mr. Duterte, even Trump should follow his footsteps. A down to earth and wisdom gifted man,” the post claims the queen said.

A review of the Royal Family’s official Facebook account found that on February 20, 2018 Queen Elizabeth visited the Royal College of Physicians of London, which was marking its 500th anniversary.

Multiple press reports such as this and this showed that Queen Elizabeth met with the staff of the Royal College of Physicians and unveiled a plaque but she gave no speech and did not talk at all about Trump or Duterte.

The official account of the day on the Royal Family’s website does not mention a speech or statement.

A search of the record of speeches on the website also shows no speeches or statements were made by the queen on that day.

There was also no press release about Duterte and Trump on the said date.

The queen also visited London Fashion week on February 20, according to the Royal Family’s official Twitter account.

Her Majesty The Queen is visiting London Fashion Week today to present the inaugural Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design. #LFW @LondonFashionWk pic.twitter.com/AAKrb5yLvL
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) February 20, 2018

There is no record of the queen making a speech about Catalonia politics, or mentioning Duterte or Trump. Such a speech would also have been against her mandate.

“As Head of State The Queen has to remain strictly neutral with respect to political matters,” according to the Royal Family’s official website.

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