Remarks by the Queen, in which she appeared to mock Gordon Brown, were picked up by microphones after he seemed to get lost during a state banquet at Windsor Castle yesterday.
A witness suggested that the Prime Minister, known for his dislike of the formality that typifies royalevents, simply walked the wrong way round the banqueting table at the event in honour of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla.
Leaning across the table, the Queen laughed and said to Princess Anne: "The Prime Minister got lost." She added: "He disappeared the wrong way ... at the crucial moment." The comments were picked up by the microphones placed on the banqueting table for the speeches.
One guest who witnessed the Prime Minister's apparent error said: "He thought he was supposed to be in the line for the greeting, but he should have been sitting down like the rest of us.
"When he discovered his mistake, he had to walk the long way round the table."
Downing St brushed off the matter, blaming the palace staff for getting the protocol wrong.
