Whenever a royal makes a public appearance, event organizers try to ensure that things go smoothly. After all, royals are thought of as VIP guests who deserve the best treatment. However, if a mishap occurs, it is not always a big deal as some royals reportedly like it when some things “go wrong.”
Some royals enjoy when things ‘go wrong’ at events
Some royals, such as the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, find enjoyment when things don’t go right at public engagements.
On Hello!’s Right Royal Podcast, the queen’s former press secretary Ailsa Anderson explained that, for example, “if you do a plaque unveiling and the curtain would fall off, or if the plaque would be unveiled and there was a spelling mistake in it,” some royals absolutely enjoy that.
Anderson specifically recalled an engagement Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip did in Canada. The royal couple went on a boat ride, but the boat “broke” and they became “stranded” in the middle of a lake. While some people would freak out at this situation, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip apparently found it very amusing.
In the documentary Prince Philip: The Royal Family Remembers, Prince William once explained why his grandparents are like this (via Town and Country): “Both my grandparents love that because you can imagine, they’ve lived a life where everything has to go right the whole time and so when things go wrong, they both chuckle an awful lot. Everyone else gets mortally embarrassed. They love it.”
“There’s just that imbalance of, there’s everybody doing their absolute best because ‘Oh, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are coming, let’s make sure we get everything absolutely right’,” Prince Harry added. “Yet the two of them are going “I wonder if something’s going to go wrong this year! How exciting!”
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip are known for their sense of humor
Although royals have a reputation for having a stiff upper lip, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip have made a lot of people laugh with their sense of humor.
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“I found, in the Queen, someone who can be friendly, who can be informal, who can be extremely funny in private,” Rowan Williams, a former archbishop of Canterbury once said (via The Guardian). “Not everybody appreciates just how funny she can be. Who is quite prepared to tease and to be teased.”
Royal biographer Robert Lacey also shared, “She had a wonderful wry and dry sense of humour, and it was a very important ingredient of her identity. I would say that her sense of humour and her religious faith were two of the personal elements that kept her so much on track.”
Prince Philip was also known to have a crass sense of humor. He often poked fun at people and various situations. While some people appreciated his jokes, others have criticized him for being insensitive at times.
Royals are not usually upset when people break protocol
There are certain rules members of the public should follow when meeting royalty, but sometimes people make mistakes and forget what they are supposed to do. Even so, most royals don’t tend to get too bothered by it.
For example, Michelle Obama met Queen Elizabeth in 2009 and famously gave Her Late Majesty a hug. There is a rule that most people should not touch the queen when meeting her, but the queen was reportedly not upset at all with Obama’s mishap.
Additionally, the most formal way of addressing senior princes and princesses is “Your Royal Highness,” but some people–such as Prince William and Kate Middleton–are relaxed about this. A source told People, “When they’re meeting people, they want to have a conversation without the other person worrying too much about how to address them. The message is, address them in whatever way you feel most comfortable.”
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