Emma Thompson wears sneakers to be honored at Buckingham Palace: 'I think she should be made Queen'
Emma Thompson is over wearing heels, no matter where she goes.
The Love Actually actress proved it Wednesday when she visited Buckingham Palace to be honored as a Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, one of the highest honors the royals bestow, wearing sneakers.
That’s right, Thompson saved herself from wearing a pair of fancy heels that surely would have distracted her during her big moment with Prince William. She did, however, wear a fancy suit (adorned with a pin supporting equal pay for women) that measured up to his royal ensemble.
(Vanity Fair pointed out that Thompson removed her shoes entirely when she presented onstage at the 2014 Golden Globes, joking that the red liner inside was actually red because it was her blood.)
The two-time Oscar winner looked pretty happy with her latest choice to forgo heels. In fact, she was so in the moment that she asked William for a smooch, which surely would have been frowned upon at the traditional ceremony.
“I love Prince William,” Thompson, a longtime friend of William and the royal family, said after the event. “I’ve known him since he was little, and we just sniggered at each other. I said, ‘I can’t kiss you, can I?’ And he said, ‘No, don’t!'”
It was Thompson’s choice of footwear for the day, rather than words, that stole much of the attention on social media. Etiquette expert William Hanson was particularly appalled, but Thompson’s fans were delighted.
Please, please someone tell me I’m mistaken but did the now DAME Emma Thompson just wear trainers to the palace? pic.twitter.com/KOw6iurBBZ
— William Hanson (@williamhanson) November 7, 2018
“Trainers are comfy. I approve of Dame Emma’s choice of footwear,” a Thompson supporter wrote.
Another commented, “And I thought I couldn’t love her any more than I do already.”
Dame #EmmaThompson has a nice ring to it, but I think she should be made Queen.
— David Walliams (@davidwalliams) November 7, 2018
Emma Thompson rocking up to collect her Damehood wearing a trouser suit and trainers, my kind of girl! #nationaltreasure pic.twitter.com/ctQ9QCwDPo
— Jane (@rozjan) November 7, 2018
Thompson was also criticized for participating in the ceremony at all.
Apparently Emma Thompson wearing trainers at the Palace makes her some kind of revolutionary………as she collects a Damehood from a member of our archaic hereditary monarchy, the ultimate symbol of class divisions, privilege and elitism.
— Briefcase Michael (@BriefcaseMike) November 7, 2018
She explained her mixed feelings on the subject in a September interview.
“They send you a letter saying, ‘Will you accept it?’” Thompson told Seth Meyers on his late-night talk show. “You can choose not to. You can choose to say, ‘Well, of course we don’t have an empire anymore, thank God, because it was ghastly, colonial, racist, dreadful, dreadful undertaking on every level,’ and actually have some moral principle about it. Or you can be like me and think, ‘Hmmm, it’s gonna be a really nice badge.’”
Dame Emma Thompson has spoken.
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