Prince William and Kate Middleton Just Broke Royal Protocol For 1 Very Lucky Fan
Prince William and Kate Middleton spent some time with the locals during a recent public engagement in Glasgow, Scotland. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were greeting fans outside of the Wheatley Group when one lucky member of the crowd got them to break royal protocol. What does Queen Elizabeth think about this unroyal behavior?
Prince William and Kate Middleton broke royal protocol and posed for a selfie
While William and Kate were talking and shaking hands with well-wishers, they made a surprising move at the request of one lucky person in attendance. The future king and queen consort stopped and happily posed for a selfie. And while the woman held out her phone to snap the photo, William went so far as to place his arm around her.
As a rule, members of the royal family do not take photographs with fans during their royal engagements. Royal protocol is to politely decline any photo request. So if you ever see a royal in a selfie, chances are they accidentally photobombed the shot.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Harry don’t like selfies
Before he stepped down from his duties as a senior working member of the royal family, Prince Harry said publicly that he “hates selfies.” When he was visiting the Australian War Memorial in Canberra during an official visit, Harry turned down a young fan’s photo request, with an explanation.
“No, I hate selfies. Seriously, you need to get out of it (the habit), I know you’re young, selfies are bad. Just take a normal photograph!” Harry said, per Hello! Magazine.
Queen Elizabeth has also made her opinion known about selfies, calling them “disconcerting” and “strange.” According to US Ambassador Matthew Barzun, Her Majesty told him she considered taking a selfie “bad manners” to be looking at a screen when she makes a public appearance.
“She was essentially saying: ‘I miss eye contact,'” Barzun said.
Greg Agnew, a royal fan who attended a party at Buckingham Palace, told Insider that selfies weren’t allowed because it was considered disrespectful.
“The one thing they talked about a lot was no selfies, and the reason was that they didn’t want people turning their backs to the royal family and the queen. And that was very important to them,” Agnew explained.
Prince William and Kate Middleton have broken royal protocol before
William and Kate’s recent photo in Scotland isn’t the first time the couple has posed for a selfie — but it’s still a very rare occurrence. In March, the duke and duchess were on a royal tour in Jamaica when they posed for a pic with the Jamaican bobsled team.
Prince William once took a selfie with 12-year-old schoolgirl Madison Lambe when she visited Sandringham on Christmas Day, and he even snapped the photo for her because she was too nervous to press the button. He also stopped for a selfie with a girl named Jennifer Malone in March 2020.
The first time Kate went viral in a selfie was in 2014 when she accidentally photobombed a snap taken by a young man in Sydney, Australia. She was giving a kid in the crowd a high-five in the background of the pic, while looking at the camera.
