A fan who wanted to grab a once-in-a-lifetime pic with Prince William during a royal visit to Brazil accidentally ended up breaking royal protocol during the process of grabbing the selfie.
Luckily for her, Wills took it all in his stride, and no further action was taken.
To be fair, it’s hardly that bad, is it?
Prince William is currently on tour in Brazil
At the moment, Prince William is on a whistle-stop tour of Brazil as part of a five-day royal visit to mark COP26 and the Earthshot Prize, a global environmental award that he is a patron of.
During that time he has crammed quite a lot of stuff in.
He’s been handed the keys to Rio de Janeiro, taken part in a game of beach volleyball, and been on the cable car to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain to see the famous statue of Jesus at the top.
He’s also met with thousands of fans along the way, posing for pictures with a few of them, which is where this incident took place.
In a video that was shared on X, one fan could be seen placing her hand on William’s back for a prolonged period of time while taking a selfie.
That might seem innocuous enough - and it is - but it’s actually a breach of royal protocol.
In fact, one person was even moved to describe it as ‘touchy feely’.
Wills’ ‘touchy feely’ touchdown in Brazil
On X, account @itsalawyerslife said: “A tremendous, rather touchy feely
welcome, from the crowds, for the Prince of Wales, in Brazil, as he begins his visit which will include his @EarthshotPrize event.”
For those who care about this sort of thing, which probably isn’t too many people, royal experts have had their say about whether you should be touching members of the royal family.
As one told Reuters, it’s not really OK according to the - admittedly fictional - manual.
“[It's] best not to initiate personal physical contact with a member of the Royal Family,” said one expert.
They did add that if physical contact is ‘offered’ - as you could argue in this case - you can return it, but said: “Usually [you should] wait and see what's expected or what's appropriate for the event.”
Can you take a royal selfie?
In terms of the selfie request in the first place, Meghan Markle has previously said that the family are ‘not allowed to do selfies’ but this hasn’t held up given Wills’ behavior.
The expert added: "It's not usually appropriate to do so,
"So if you do want to take a photograph, ask their permission first, possibly get somebody else to take a photograph, but it's important to respect that person's personal space."
But, ultimately, if you do end up breaking with the protocol, don’t worry too much. You are very unlikely to be tossed into the Tower of London for treason.
The expert concluded: "You're not going to be in trouble. There are no official legal rules in place,
"Apologise if you feel you may have caused offense, but try not to panic, and stay calm."