Long Live the Queen - Racer Lewis Hamilton Gets Schooled in Minding his Manners
Here's a little advice for you should you ever find yourself lunching with Her Majesty the Queen - Mind your manners, says Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton, who recently got straight-up schooled in etiquette by England's Queen Elizabeth herself.
Lewis is quite the badass Brit on the track, commanding the Formula One checkered flag in 2008 and 2014, and currently driving for the Mercedes AMG team. He's racked up more race victories than any other British driver in the history of Formula One and is currently 5th on the all-time list, with 37 wins.
Oh, but the Queen is not impressed and she will have none of that bravado at the table, thank you very much. After all, there are rules that proper folk follow when lunching with Liz and speaking out of turn and all willy-nilly simply will not do.
"I got invited to a lunch and was sitting next to the Queen," Hamilton told the BBC. "I was excited and started to talk to her, but she said – pointing to my left – 'No, you speak that way first, and I'll speak this way and then I'll come back to you.'"
Hamilton took the schooling in stride. After all, his career is in high gear and expected to remain that way for at least the next three years, thanks to deal extension he just negotiated for himself and his team, keeping them on the Mercedes squad through 2018. The deal reportedly is worth more than 100 million pounds - upward of $157.5 million in American dollars - over the full three years, making Hamilton one of the best paid drivers in Formula One. Plus, the agreement is said to allow Hamilton to maintain his own image rights, which is considered unusual in the sport, and keep his championship winning cars as well as the trophies he collects.
From all of us here at E3 Spark Plugs, much respect, Lewis Hamilton. Oh, and Long Live the Queen.
Phot Credit: "Lewis Hamilton October 2014" by Foto: Stefan Brending, Lizenz: Creative Commons by-sa-3.0 de. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 de via Wikimedia Commons
"Queen Elizabeth II March 2015" by Joel Rouse/ Ministry of Defence via Wikimedia Commons
