As a historic institution, members of the Royal Family adhere to many rules and guidelines that seem completely bizarre to the average person. That is why we love to see members of the Royal Family breaking royal protocols and bending the rules for important or amusing reasons.

When it comes to breaking protocol, many examples appeared in 2024, including the usual suspects. From King Charles allegedly changing the rules to honor his daughter-in-law to Princess Anne blundering at a state dinner, here are all the instances this year in which the British royal family reportedly did not follow protocol.

In June, the British royal family attended the annual “Trooping the Colour” ceremony at Buckingham Palace. But some sharp-eyed fans noticed a noticeable change in the balcony lineup, with Kate Middleton standing next to King Charles.

Royal experts noted that Princess Kate's standing next to the King was intentional and an example of the monarch breaking protocol for an important cause. Since both Prince Charles and Princess Kate were diagnosed with cancer in 2024, the King wanted to honor his daughter in public for all to see.

Commenting on the change, former royal butler Grant Harold told OK., “I would say this was the King's preference, since he and Kate are changing protocol to show they are united with each other and going through similar struggles. He continued, “The balcony [lineup] is staged, so it's as if the king said to Kate, 'Stand next to me.

On December 3, Princess Anne attended a state dinner at Buckingham Palace honoring the Amir of Qatar and his wife Sheikha Jawaher bint Hamad bin Suhaim Al Thani. Anne was given the extremely important seat to dine next to the Qatari Amir himself and nearly broke royal protocol.

King Charles toasted the Qatari Amir and they exchanged glasses. Princess Anne, on the other hand, almost put her mouth on the glass before finishing the toast, People reported, citing video footage provided by Sky News.

In October, Queen Camilla left on a royal tour of Australia and Samoa with her husband, King Charles. During the trip, Camilla met with many royal fans, some of whom wanted to take pictures with the queen.

At the time, Camilla was photographed posing for selfies with waiting fans outside St. Thomas' Anglican Church in Sydney, Australia. The Express covered the moment, stating, “There are no royal rules on selfies, but it is generally discouraged for members of the royal family to pose for selfies.”

When Queen Elizabeth was alive, selfies were generally discouraged. However, now that King Charles has ascended to the throne, it is quite possible that the rules have been relaxed, as it appears that many royals have begun taking selfies with their fans.

If taking selfies with royal fans is generally frowned upon, taking personal TikToks does not seem to be a good thing; on November 14, Prince William visited the University of Ulster in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he was meeting up and late for class. He helped a student who was running late for class and filmed a TikTok video.

After receiving instructions from the student and her friend, Prince William turned to the camera and said. 'Lesley, I'm terribly sorry I'm late. But, look, I'm catching up.” 'You won't believe you were here, so just say hello. It's unclear whether the Prince of Wales broke any serious royal protocol, but it sure felt like a rule-bending moment.

Believe it or not, Prince William's decision to grow a beard in 2024 was considered somewhat of a “protocol breaking” move.

In his memoir, Spare, Prince Harry revealed that he had to ask permission from Queen Elizabeth to keep his beard for his 2018 wedding. 'After the stress of asking my grandmother for permission to marry Meg [Han Markle], I knew I wouldn't dare ask her for anything else. 'Grandma, please, please keep my beard for my wedding.'

The Duke of Sussex was sure his grandmother would refuse the request. 'Some people considered a beard a clear violation of protocol and long-standing norms, especially since I would be wearing my Army uniform to the wedding. Beards were forbidden in the British Army.”

When Prince William showed off his new beard in August in a video celebrating the Paris Olympics, royal fans began craving it almost immediately. If the beard had previously broken royal protocol, Prince William was probably allowed to break the rules in light of these positive fan reactions.

During a visit to Guernsey in July, King Charles allowed a royal fan to kiss him on the cheek, raising eyebrows; a video posted by the BBC on X revealed that 91-year-old Kathleen Moriarty kissed King Charles on the cheek.

Moriarty told the media outlet, “I said to him, ‘Please, may I kiss you?’ And he put his cheek against mine. I just did. I didn't plan it, it was fun. He's nice. It was so nice. I was happy."

‘Such an intimate act might have provoked a very different reaction during the late queen's reign,’ the Daily Mail reported after the incident. On the other hand, most royal biographers seem to agree that Queen Elizabeth would “never” have allowed the kiss, suggesting that it was blatantly against the rules.

In March, Kate Middleton recorded a personal message revealing her cancer diagnosis. According to royal author Robert Hardman's book, “Charles III: The New King. the Inside Story.” the intimate video of Princess Kate violated royal protocol.

Hardman explained (via the Mirror) that “the princess was filmed by photographers from BBC Studios Events Productions, the same team that filmed the coronation and the late queen's funeral. However, all the words were the princess's own”. Even the official manuscript issued by the palace broke protocol. To most people this is trivial, but in an institution bound by the right way of doing things, it is remarkable.”