Australia gets it wrong again as Prime Minister fails to curtsey to the Queen

Australian prime minister Julia Gillard was today forced to declare that she "respected and admired" the Queen after failing to curtsey to her.

As the Welsh-born pro-republican's apparent breach of protocol dominated talk shows and Twitter, Ms Gillard, 50, who also chose not to wear a hat, went on radio to insist she was following advice to "do what comes most comfortably and naturally".

She said: "The protocol advice to us was you either curtsey or you bow your head, you should do what you feel comfortable with. I felt most comfortable with bowing my head and the Queen extended her hand and so, of course, I shook her hand."

But royal etiquette expert Jean Broke-Smith told the Standard that Ms Gillard was likely to be left with a "black mark" against the rest of her time in office.

She said: "Women should know better. That is a real no-no. You always have to curtsey to the Queen. Sometimes, obviously for a man, you get to do a little bob of acknowledgement.

"But when you are meeting the Queen, as she takes your hand you shouldn't look at her - you drop your eyes down and then you go down on a curtsey."

It's not the first time Australian politicians have got themselves in a tangle dealing with their country's head of state. In 1992 Paul Keating was dubbed the "lizard of Oz" when he touched the Queen. Eight years later, then prime minister John Howard denied making contact when he guided her round Government House in Canberra.

There have been famed incidents back home, too. Michelle Obama placed her arm around the Queen at a G20 reception at Buckingham Palace in 2009.

But nothing survives like the claim the Queen Mother was "mortified" when Cherie Blair failed to curtsey on the Blairs' first visit to Balmoral in 1997.

Today the Queen and Prince Philip sailed across Lake Burley Griffin and visited the Floriade flower show.