Ed Sheeran, who is currently awaiting his fate in the Tower of London, violated royal protocol when he touched Prince Charles’s arm on Thursday while being awarded one of Britain’s highest honors, the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his services to music and charity. May God have mercy on his soul.
Whilst there are no “obligatory rules,” Buckingham Palace provides a curt set of recommendations as to the “traditional forms”:
For men this is a neck bow (from the head only) whilst women do a small curtsy. Other people prefer simply to shake hands in the usual way.
In the usual way, which one understands to mean minimal palm-to-palm contact, not thrusting your treasonous fingers all over the Royal Highness’s arm like a freaking plebeian.