It will take some time for people to get used to having a new monarch in Buckingham Palace following the death of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth III, and this is apparently just as true for members of the royal family. Mike Tindall, the husband of the Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips, has now spoken out about experiencing a bit of an awkward blunder during his first meeting with King Charles III after he became king.
During a recent episode of his sports podcast The Good, The Bad, and The Rugby, the former rugby union player admitted he almost curtseyed to the King. According to the royal family website, protocol dictates that, when meeting the king, men should give a neck bow, without bending their waist, while women should carry out a "small curtsy".
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Leaving his fellow hosts, James Haskell and Alex Payne, speechless, Mike revealed: "You know when you're following a routine? I almost curtseyed to the King the other day.
"Without thinking about it. I was just following my wife, saw her curtsey, and I, fortunately, didn't."
Mike, who ended up turning the curtsey into a "lower bow", went on to clarify that he thinks he "styled it out alright", although he admits he may have looked as though he'd "stubbed my toe or something on the floor."
Fortunately, Mike's gaffe happened during a private moment behind the scenes, and not in front of any TV cameras.
Opening up about how the royal family has responded to the Queen's death on a personal level, Mike told his co-hosts: "It's been sad, emotional but happy.
"In some ways amazing. To see the family come so close together overnight. You never predict it. A 96-year-old lady, you know it's going to happen but you're never ready for when it does.
"Watching what Zara had to go through, obviously she loved the Queen beyond everything else. Their connection with horses, they had a real bond around that. It's like the world has lost its grandmother in some way."
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