What's wrong with this picture?

I saw this photo some time ago, and I still cannot get over it. I have no beef with either woman, but for some reason, I am both appalled and riled whenever I look at it. I mean, here we see the former British prime minister Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, an elderly woman, certainly with aches and pains in her joints, making a very low, awkward curtsey to another woman (Queen Elizabeth II) who is a few months her junior. That in itself is bad enough, i.e., that a woman of this age has such little sense of self-worth and deems herself to be so inferior, after all her accomplishments (good and bad).

But the Queen does not even pay the kneeling woman the courtesy of acknowledging the gesture - oh no - she gazes off elsewhere, at more important distractions, hands firmly clenched in front of her as if afraid she might get infected with something. I wonder how long it took Mrs. Thatcher to straighten up from this position, given her fragile state. A show of concern an/or an attempt to offset the curtsey would have improved the Queen's standing in such a situation greatly.

A picture like this does neither woman any favours. One appears indifferent and superior, the other appears to be slavishly fawning. But it most certainly confirms that subservience is very much alive and well in the UK.

Why am I bringing this up? Because Mrs. Thatcher, despite being old and visibly frail, did exactly the same thing when the Queen arrived as a guest at her 80th birthday party. I mean, the woman could barely stand, let alone curtsey. She must have practised doing it unsupported for several days before her birthday, despite experiencing several bouts of illness in the run-up to the day. I can't think of a more humiliating thing to do on one's birthday.

If that were my mother on her knees, I would be embarrassed, ashamed and very angry with her. Indeed.