Czech president knocks soldier’s hat off with flagpole as officer keeps straight face

Czech Republic president Petr Pavel accidentally knocked a soldier’s hat off by hitting him with a flagpole during an Independence Day event on Saturday, 28 October.

Footage shows the officer remaining standing and carrying on with the events without reacting after his hat fell to the floor.

The president has since issued an apology to the soldier on X/Twitter.

Mr Pavel said: “It was certainly not an attempt to add a new element to the standard military procedure. I simply underestimated the weight.”