Kate Middleton breaks ‘unwritten’ royal rule
<p dir="ltr">Kate Middleton has been spotted breaking an unwritten rule for royals while posing with a royal fan.</p>
<p dir="ltr">After the man approached and put his arm around her, the Princess of Wales reciprocated, breaking the unwritten rule of limiting contact to a handshake.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Before smiling for the camera, Kate was seen speaking with him during the official visit she made with husband Prince William to Scarborough.</p>
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<p dir="ltr">The sweet photo was taken during the couple’s visit to ‘The Street’, a youth and community facility run by the charity Coast & Vale Community Action, where they announced that £345,000 of funds from their Royal Foundation would be used to help young people’s mental health in the area.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/11/kate-hug-man.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>Kate Middleton was photographed with her arm around a royal fan during a sweet encounter in Scarborough. Image: Getty Images</em></p>
<p dir="ltr">Their visit marked the first time royals had been to the town in 12 years and was met with a positive reception from locals.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“It’s a feel good factor, which at the present situation as somebody said to me, ‘To see a prince and princess, it’s like a fairytale’,” one local told <em>ITV News</em>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“It’s lovely that they’re helping all the young ones isn’t it, because they’ll be the ones that’s with them, you know, when [William]’s king really,” another said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">One of the teens who was lucky to meet with the royals to speak about mental health shared a surprising revelation about what the couple were really like.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“I thought they’d be more posh but they were very down to earth,” he said.</p>
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<p dir="ltr">Both Kate and William were also snapped with their arms around a young child, with other members of the public taking photos of them as well.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/11/kate-hug-william.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>Prince William and Kate Middleton were also spotted with their arms around a young royal fan during their visit to Scarborough. Image: Getty Images</em></p>
<p dir="ltr">But Kate and William’s most recent visit to Scarborough isn’t the first time members of the public have been met with more than a handshake by the younger royals.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Earlier this year, William hugged a man who became emotional during a trip to Scotland, and the Prince also hugged the Lionesses after their historic win of the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 competition.</p>
<p dir="ltr">In the wake of the Queen’s death in September, Meghan Markle was spotted being hugged and kissed by royal fans, while Sophie, Countess of Wessex, was photographed hugging a young boy during a vigil.</p>
<p dir="ltr">While there aren’t any official rules for how royals behave while greeting members of the public, a handshake has historically been the extent of contact made.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Grant Harold, a former royal butler, told <em><a href="https://www.ok.co.uk/lifestyle/prince-william-broke-protocol-intentional-27659169" target="_blank" rel="noopener">OK!</a></em> that at most “you could look but you couldn’t touch”.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“If you met a royal, you could look at them and if they offered you a handshake you were to accept it,” he told the outlet.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“That was a lot to do with the mystique surrounding the family but also for security reasons, too."</p>
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<p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>
