At Buckingham Palace today, King Charles III hosted a reception ahead of the COP27 Summit in Egypt. Among the attendees were new prime minister Rishi Sunak and British designer Stella McCartney.
As McCartney, a favorite designer of royals like Meghan Markle, greeted King Charles, she soon remembered his new position warranted a bend of the knee. Watch here:
As you can see in the video, the King warmly greets McCartney—whom he has met and worked with before—with kisses, as she says, "I don't know what to do anymore!" and then she does a curtsy, saying, "I think I'm supposed to do this."
According to the royal family's website, "There are no obligatory codes of behaviour when meeting The Queen or a member of the Royal Family, but many people wish to observe 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."
McCartney was joking about the curtsy because she has met the King on numerous occasions before he ascended the throne. Last year, the designer toured Charles around a fashion installation she made for the COP26 summit.
In June of last year, too, McCartney joined then-Prince Charles for the launch of the Terra Carta Transition Coalitions, "an organized, global collective working together to drive investment towards a sustainable future."
It's a natural working partnership; since she launched her eponymous brand in 2001, McCartney has been dedicated to sustainability, and the British king has long advocated for environmentalism.
Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.
