Ed Sheeran breached royal protocol as he was awarded his MBE by Prince Charles
Ed Sheeran became an official Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) on Thursday in recognition of his services to both music and charity, but the ceremony didn’t go exactly as planned.
The honor was bestowed upon Sheeran by Prince Charles on behalf of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, at Buckingham Palace and that’s where things went off-script. “[I] shook the prince’s hand and talked to him for a little bit,” Sheeran told Today‘s Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford Friday. “Apparently, I did a big faux pas, though. I shook his hand and then grabbed it and you’re not meant to do that.”
Yeah, you’re definitely not meant to do that. Thankfully the blunder didn’t cause a royal ruckus as both Sheeran and Prince Charles were snapped smiling during the moment. As far as royal faux pas go, however, this isn’t Sheeran’s first goof. Back in January, the singer more or less confirmed the rumor that Princess Beatrice had slashed him in the face with a sword at a party.
On top of being honored with an MBE, it was noted in a tweet by Clarence House that Sheeran’s grandfather had died four years ago on that very same day and that the singer stated, “…it’s actually quite a nice full circle thing, I guess he’d be pretty proud.”
Ed Sheeran was awarded his MBE for services to music and charity.
He said "... my grandfather... he died on this day four years ago, so it's actually quite a nice full circle thing, I guess he'd be pretty proud." pic.twitter.com/GgzfIhwwS7— Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) December 7, 2017
Sheeran was most recently named Spotify’s most-streamed artist of 2017.
