Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt became an overnight sensation after capturing a "selfie" on her cellphone with President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron at Nelson Mandela's memorial, according to Slate.
The Getty caption originally posted read: "U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron pose for a picture with Denmark's Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt next to US First Lady Michelle Obama during the memorial service of South African former president Nelson Mandela at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg."
Being called "one of the most high-powered selfies ever snapped," the three have come under criticism for taking the picture during the memorial.
The picture of the selfie was all over British newspaper covers on Wednesday, and the Sun tabloid newspaper calling it a "gaffe" that betrayed a lack of respect for the late South African politician, according to Reuters. Many media outlets criticized the trio for taking a selfie at a funeral, although it was a memorial.
Cameron has had to defend the picture to parliament on Wednesday, and a spokesman for the British Prime Minister said the event had been a "celebration" of Mandela's life rather than his funeral, which will take place on Sunday, Reuters reported.
"You should always remember that the television cameras are always on," Cameron told parliament on Wednesday, according to Reuters. "In my defense I'd say that Nelson Mandela played an extraordinary role in his life and in his death in bringing people together."
Twitter and Redditt trending threads have already been made for the selfie, and for the mysterious changing of seats that seems to have occurred after the selfie was taken with First Lady Michelle Obama and the president.
In the United States, the New York Daily News quickly said Obama had committed "a funeral faux pas" by taking the selfie and the Washington Post said the action detracted from the U.S. leader's eulogy to Mandela, Reuters reported.
Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the Danish prime minister, seems to have come under less scrutiny than Obama and Cameron. The 46-year-old leads the Social Democrat government and is married to the son of ex-Labor leader Neil Kinnock, Stephen Kinnock, according to Reuters.
A second photo was later captured by Roberto Schmidt, the photographer who also captured the three leaders taking a selfie, shows Michelle Obama who has switched seats with the President with a stern look on her face. This picture alone caused the social media to explode in theories of a marital disagreement over the photos.
Roberto wrote in an AFP blog where photojournalist can give insight behind their pictures, post titled "The story behind 'the selfie'" that the first lady wasn't annoyed and that the selfie wasn't a funeral faux pas, mostly because it wasn't a funeral.
"Photos can lie," Schmidt wrote. "South Africans were dancing, singing and laughing to honour their departed leader. It was more like a carnival atmosphere, not at all morbid."
He also explains that although the first lady looks annoyed in the photographs, Schmidt said she was joking along with everyone else, Cameron and Schmidt included, adding that "her stern look was captured by chance."
The main conversation within the media and online was that the first lady also disapproved of the selfie, and maybe even for speaking to the Danish prime minister, but that wasn't the case, according to the photographer.
"When the Danish prime minister took out her mobile phone and took a photo of herself smiling with Obama and Cameron, she did so in a celebratory environment", he said in the post. "All around me in the stadium, South Africans were dancing, singing and laughing to honour their departed leader. It was more like a carnival atmosphere, not at all morbid.
"The ceremony had already gone on for two hours and would last another two. The atmosphere was totally relaxed - I didn't see anything shocking in my viewfinder, president of the U.S. or not. We are in Africa," he wrote.
