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AMERICAN Secret Service agents ordered the Royal Navy to stop pointing their missiles at the First Lady.

The incident arose when Type 42 destroyer HMS Edinburgh came into port in Cape Town, South Africa with its ceremonial Sea Dart missiles on show - and pointing at the Table Bay Hotel, where Michelle Obama was staying on an official visit.

Her spooked bodyguards told the sailors: "You can't point those guns at the First Lady."

But Navy officers were able to reassure them that Michelle and her daughters were not at risk.

The missiles were actually blanks used in a ceremony to mark the death of a colleague.

Details have just emerged of the incident on June 24.

Mike Critchley, of Warship World magazine, said: "This is typical US Secret Service going over the top. I'd have thought they could trust their British allies to not put a missile through the bedroom window of the First Lady."

A Navy spokesman said: "American officials did visit.

They wanted to know if the missiles were live.

When it was explained they were drill rounds, they went away content."

The White House declined to comment.