AUSTRALIAN TV presenters accidentally delivered a humbling blow to Liz Truss by failing to identify her when she appeared at the Queen’s funeral.
The new Prime Minister was mistakenly taken for a “minor royal” when she appeared at Westminster Abbey for the service on Monday morning.
Presenters Peter Overton and Tracy Grimshaw were quickly corrected by behind-the-scenes staff, but were still not able themselves to identify Truss when the camera angle changed from a distant overhead shot to a clearer picture of her face shot head-on.
As Truss and her husband Hugh O’Leary stepped out of their car, Overton said: “Hard to identify. Maybe minor royals, members of the … I can't identify them at this point ... ”
READ MORE: Cost of previous royal funerals to be eclipsed as UK mourns Queen
Co-host Grimshaw added: “We can’t spot everyone, unfortunately. They look like they could well be local dignitaries, it’s hard to say. We’re looking at the backs of their heads.”
Australian presenters Peter Overton and Tracy Grimshaw unable to identify UK PM Liz Truss. pic.twitter.com/uG0eQPqBqN
— Shahryar Sultan (@Shahryar_Sultan) September 19, 2022
Overton then appeared to be attempting a justification of the confusion by noting the arrivals were reaching the end, before stopping himself to say: “I’m just told that was Liz Truss, the new Prime Minister, in the distance that we could see hopping out of that car.”
The gaffe appeared on the 9News, the flagship news programme of the Australian Nine Network, one of the country’s largest broadcasters.
Truss’s performance at the funeral added to her woes today, with critics taking to social media to criticise her “flat” reading during the ceremony.
Columnist Nesrine Malik said: “Liz Truss again appearing at Britain’s moments of high drama and ceremony and extinguishing them with a single breath of flat speech.”
Author Catlin Moran swiped: “Well Liz Truss's reading is a welcome respite from all the emotion, drama and beauty.”
While comedian Tiernan Douieb joking: “I think it was pretty respectful of Liz Truss to do her reading without any signs of life in it whatsoever.”
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