Queen Camilla broke royal protocol and everyone missed it | Royal | News
Queen Camilla showed her true colors last week (Image: Getty)
Queen Camilla recently broke royal protocol during her and King Charles’ state visit to the US, and the move went largely unnoticed. The King and Queen spent four days in the US, visiting Washington DC, New York and Virginia.
During their visit to New York, the royal couple paid tribute to the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack and said they stood in “enduring solidarity with the American people.” Charles and Camilla’s words of condolence were written in a message accompanied by a bouquet of flowers left at the majestic memorial in New York in memory of the thousands of people who lost their lives almost 25 years ago.
Those who died were immortalized in the memorial Reflecting the Absence, where the twin waterfall pools in the footprint of the World Trade Center’s north and south towers were destroyed when terrorists crashed passenger planes into the buildings.
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Queen Camilla embraces Anthoula Katsimatides (Image: Getty)
Queen Camilla meets 9/11 grieving families (Image: Getty)
During their visit, Charles and Camilla were accompanied by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, a media mogul and head of the September 11 Memorial and Museum who took office just a few months after the terrorist attack.
They also met Anthoula Katsimatides, another member of the memorial’s board of directors who was among other family members killed on 9/11.
Ms. Katsimatides’ brother, John, a Cantor Fitzgerald employee, was one of those killed during the September 11 attacks.
He was an employee of Cantor Fitzgerald and died on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center at the age of 31.
Camilla was seen breaking royal protocol and hugging Ms Katsimatides, who revealed their meeting.
She said: “I asked if I could hug her. She didn’t hear at first so I repeated myself and she smiled and said ‘of course’. I’m from Queens and I’m Greek and we hugged.”
Anthoula Katsimatides lost her brother in the September 11 attacks (Image: Getty)
He added: “It’s a real honor that they came and visited to pay their respects. I can’t stop crying but that’s okay. The memories are as fresh for me today as they were 25 years ago.”
Ms. Katsimatides later said: “One of the biggest concerns for us is that a generation is growing up not knowing about 9/11 and what happened.
“So bringing a King here to commemorate the 25th anniversary is very important. It reminds people. We all have a personal story to tell.”
Although it’s not an official royal rule, it’s generally thought that physical contact with a member of the Royal Family should be avoided unless they offer to do so.
But in recent years the royal family has become more willing to break the rules and has been seen physically interacting with members of the public on many occasions.
According to the Royal Family’s official website, there is no mandatory code of conduct when meeting the King and Queen or a member of the Royal Family, but many people wish to observe traditional forms.
For men, this is submission (from the beginning only), while women make a small bow. Other people prefer to just shake hands as usual.
The correct official address when presented to the King is ‘Your Majesty’ followed by ‘Sir’.
The correct official address when presenting to the Queen is ‘Your Majesty’ followed by ‘Ma’am’ pronounced with a short ‘a’ as in ‘Jam’.
The same rules apply to male members of the Royal Family; The title used at first is ‘His Royal Highness’ and then ‘Sir’.
For other female members of the Royal Family, the first address is traditionally ‘Your Royal Highness’ followed by ‘Ma’am’.
