Elisabeth Hasselbeck recalls meeting Queen Elizabeth: 'I was so nervous'

Elisabeth Hasselbeck says she had another 'awkward' moment besides meeting Queen Elizabeth at the event

By The News Digital
|
March 08, 2026
Elisabeth Hasselbeck remembers meeting the late Queen Elizabeth in the White House

Back in 2008, the White House invited Elisabeth Hasselbeck for a state dinner by then-President George W. Bush. There, the presenter now recalls, she met the late Queen Elizabeth.

“I was so nervous. I wore my wedding cape,” she recounts on The Weekend View, adding, “I had no idea what to do when I got there."

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Further, Hasselbeck recalls that at the event she committed a royal faux pas. She tried to hug the queen, but it did not go as planned.

"Like, I didn't know [you couldn’t touch her],” she says, adding, "I went in for a hug. It didn't go well. It was very awkward.”

It is well known that touching members of the British royal family is considered a breach of tradition and etiquette.

But her list of awkward happenings did not just end there on that day.

At the dinner table, Hasselbeck recounts mistaking a bowl of soapy water for a drink until Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State, corrected her.

“I remember this, like, chalice of something, and I didn't … grow up with many courses. I’m literally [pretends to bring a bowl to her lips], mid-sip, and Jeb Bush leans over, Condoleezza Rice is [on] my other side, and he's like, ‘You might not want to drink that. That's for your hands.’”

Hasselbeck has recently returned to The View, though temporarily, after 13 years.

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