Ed Sheeran Commits A Faux Pas While Meeting Prince Charles For His MBE Award

December 14, 2017

Meeting someone from the royal family is a great deal for anyone and most are aware that social etiquette when it comes to royalty is quite different from when you are meeting your buddies for drinks.

The big 'oops'

It seems Ed Sheeran might have skipped that lecture. It's quite overwhelming to meet with the Royal household one on one but it becomes awkward when you commit a faux pas while meeting the royal family.

Публикация от Ed Sheeran (@teddysphotos) Дек 7 2017 в 6:50 PST

The award-winning artist was recently invited to Buckingham Palace to receive yet another award. The singer was to be conferred with an MBE (member of the order of the British Empire) by Prince Charles himself.

While meeting the prince, Ed committed a faux pas by grabbing his hand. He said:

Apparently, I did a big faux pas, though, ... I shook his hand and then grabbed it and you’re
not meant to do that.

Royal etiquette

The handshake can be seen from many photo shots taken during the occasion. Prince Charles didn't seem to mind as he didn't correct the singer about grabbing his hand.

There are one thousand and one rules when relating with royalty and one of those rules is how to extend greetings. The men are required to bow slightly from the neck only and the women are required to perform a simple curtsey when meeting members of the royal family.

gettyimages

Now I really wish Ed had looked it up before meeting the Prince then the ‘royal oops’ would've been avoided but then again it kind of made the whole ceremony even more interesting.

Ed won a special award.

Despite the faux pas, reports have it that the rest of the ceremony went quite well and Sheeran expressed his joy at meeting the royal family.

gettyimages

Do you know what I love, my grandfather was a massive royalist, he had all the commemorative plates and stuff, and he died on this day four years ago, so it’s actually quite a nice full circle thing, I guess he’d be pretty proud,” Sheeran told reporters at the end of the event.

The M.B.E Award was conferred on him in recognition of his contributions to art and music in the UK.

I would say this is a well-deserved honor. As a Grammy award winner, it was really great for Ed to also be recognized by the royal family. This was indeed a memorable event for the singer.