What to Know
There’s a lot of etiquette that dictates how people should interact with the royal family, which can be quite different from the way that the rest of us mere mortals would interact with each other. And when singer Jessie J came face to face with Kate Middleton at the Royal Variety Performance, she was caught ignoring that etiquette altogether.
Now, Jessie J is opening up about why she broke the “no touching royals” rule, and the story is actually surprisingly sweet.
Jessie J and Kate were photographed hugging at the event.
When Jessie J happened to be at the same place at the same time as the royals, she didn’t waste her opportunity! At the Royal Variety Performance in November, the “Domino” singer was photographed in a warm embrace with Kate — something that we don’t often see, considering that there’s usually a bit of polite space between her and whoever she happens to be encountering in public.
Something was different this time, though.
Typically, etiquette states that people who meet the royals should avoid touching them.
While there’s no hard rule about not hugging or touching members of the royal family, it’s more of an unspoken expectation when it comes to etiquette.
As Reuters has reported in the past, when meeting a royal, a handshake is more appropriate — but you would still want to wait for the royal to be the one to initiate it.
“Best not to initiate personal physical contact with a member of the royal family,” British etiquette expert Lucy Hume told the outlet. “Again, it may be that they offered to give you a hug or to put their arm around you, but usually wait and see what’s expected or what’s appropriate for the event.”
Jessie did ask Kate’s permission before hugging her.
During an appearance on Good Morning America on Friday, Jessie said that as someone who has faced a cancer diagnosis herself — for Jessie, that was breast cancer, as she shared with fans earlier this year — she had a sweet exchange with the princess at the variety performance.
“She just said, ‘Thank you, I know you’ve gone through a tough time.’ I said, ‘I know you have too.’ I just said, ‘I want to acknowledge that, mum to mum, cancer survivor to cancer survivor. I see you, and I feel you. Can I give you a hug?'” she said. According to Jessie, Kate’s reply was, “Of course you can.”
“I’m grateful she received it in the way it was meant,” she added.
It sounds like it was a pretty special moment for her — and totally worth the breach of etiquette, since Kate was good with it, too.
