Nearly three months after the monarch announced his cancer diagnosis, Zara Tindall and King Charles finally had the chance to reunite at a recent royal outing. The pair greeted each other with a hug—and it turns out that the king’s niece broke a pretty major royal practice in the process.
The 42-year-old couldn’t help but gush when she saw her uncle at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in Berkshire, England, on Friday, May 3. She pulled the 75-year-old monarch into a big hug, with sources telling Us Weekly that they overheard her exclaiming, “Ah, Uncle Charles,” as they embraced. But in doing so, Tindall happened to break royal protocol.
While the royal family’s website claims there are “no obligatory codes of behaviour,” around greeting a monarch, royal protocol in the United Kingdom is built on many longstanding traditions and expectations around how people should interact with the king. Apparently, hugging the monarch can break these protocols for several reasons.
For starters, interactions with the monarch are usually meant to remain formal. Considering that hugs are a pretty casual form of physical contact, it could definitely be seen as too familiar and not in line with the usual sense of respect that comes with royal encounters. In addition, security concerns play a role in these protocols, and limiting physical contact is usually one way to ensure the monarch’s safety.
We’re assuming Tindall gets a pass on this front, given that she’s a member of the royal family herself. However, there is also the understanding that people aren’t meant to initiate physical contact with the monarch unless the monarch takes the lead. In this instance, Us Weekly reports that King Charles looked somewhat “surprised” when his niece went in for the hug. The outlet also revealed that those without royal titles are usually expected to avoid physical contact with the monarch altogether.
While Tindall is a member of the royal family, she doesn’t have any royal titles of her own. Her mother, Princess Anne (who is King Charles’ only sister) declined an offer of royal HRH titles for her children when they were born. The decision was made to allow Zara and her brother, Peter Phillips, a more private life without the pressures and obligations typically associated with royal titles. Ultimately, this did allow Zara to pursue a more flexible career and lifestyle—she is an accomplished equestrian and Olympic silver medalist in her own right, and continues to live a more low-profile life compared to other members of the royal family.
Given her innocent slip up, we’re going to go ahead and assume that King Charles can forgive his niece—if there’s anything to forgive, that is! After all, Tindall’s hug comes amid His Majesty’s ongoing cancer battle. Her encounter with the monarch also marked the first time seeing him in public since Buckingham Palace announced in February 2024 that he had been diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer. The king’s outing at the royal horse show was one of three recent engagements he attended since returning to his royal duties at the end of April 2024, following a short break as he received treatment for his condition.
