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Flashback: Obama’s ‘Slap In The Face’ Comment About Prince George’s ‘Protocol Breach’

Last week, it was reported that royal experts were saying that Prince William and Kate Middleton were considering keeping their oldest son Prince George, 7, out of the spotlight after he was hit with some vicious attacks from online trolls.

Now, reports have resurfaced from 2016 about George’s meeting with the then-President Barack Obama, who had some interesting comments about what went down.

The Express reported that Obama and his wife Michelle got to meet George, who was two years-old at the time, during an evening spent with William and Kate. Photos soon went viral of George in his pajamas meeting both Obama and Michelle.

While Obama said that George was “adorable,” he also jokingly accused the toddler of breaching royal protocol during his final White House Correspondents’ dinner.

Obama claimed that George being in his pajamas during their meeting showed that people were preparing for him to leave office. He compared being met by George wearing checked pajamas and monogrammed bathrobe was like his political opponents no longer answering his phone calls.

“It’s not just Congress,” Obama said at the time. “Even some foreign leaders have been looking ahead, anticipating my departure. Last week Prince George showed up to our meeting in his bathrobe. That was a slap in the face – a clear breach of protocol.”

While this was clearly meant to be a joke, William and Kate appear to have become wary of the public attention their oldest son has received in the years since. Royal expert Robert Jobson said that George got a lot of attention on social media this week during England’s opening goal in the Euro 2020 final earlier this month.

“With George, he got quite a lot of social media attention,” Jobson said. “Some were critical about him wearing a shirt and tie like his dad which I thought was very harsh. He has been very popular but I think they are going to try and keep him out of the limelight a little bit. They are very conscious of that. The pictures were great with his dad when he was celebrating for that all too brief moment.”

Royal expert Angela Levin said that William and Kate may not be releasing George’s birthday photo for the same reason as he prepares to turn 8 next week.

“There are rumours that we might not see the photograph [of Prince George] when he’s eight, because they’ve been so upset by the rudeness of people mocking a little boy aged seven, and I hope they can overcome that,” Levin said, according to Daily Mail.

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