Prince Harry has had some seriously awkward moments that were captured by millions of
people. It's certainly comforting to know that even royals have occasional slip ups
like the rest of us. Curious to find out more about the prince's royal gaffes? Here are
Prince Harry's most awkward moments.
Ever gone for a kiss on the cheek and immediately regretted it? We've all been there — even,
as it turns out, Prince Harry. In 2018, the royal was caught on camera in what is surely
one of the most awkward greetings of all time.
It all went down at the launch of Meghan Markle's first solo project as a royal family member.
Prince Harry, Markle, and her mother, Doris Ragland, were chatting with a female volunteer.
Ragland greeted the woman with a kiss on both cheeks. But when Prince Harry goes in for
a similar kiss, the woman backs away. Instead of backing off himself, Prince Harry bends
down, holds out his arms, and waits for her to accept his kiss on the cheek. Then, the
awkward kiss finally takes place, with Prince Harry and the woman directing their demure
pecks into the air.
This particular moment is so cringe-worthy, it's hard to watch.
Usually, Prince Harry and Megan are the perfect picture of married bliss, no matter where
they are in the world. However, in the audience of a 2019 Cirque du Soleil performance in
London, the royal couple were caught by the cameras during a pretty awkward moment.
"Right. Okay. Give me a bit of background."
A video of the couple showed Prince Harry stretching out his hand to Markle. She takes
his hand, saying, "Thank you," to which he looked upset and seemed to roll his eyes.
That's some pretty strange behavior on Prince Harry's part. He was even captured fiddling
with his ring after the incident, to which one unnamed Instagram user commented:
"Playing with the ring is not good."
We'll never know for sure what made Prince Harry so exasperated about this moment with
his wife. But one thing's for sure: royal fans were quick to notice the tension between
the pair!
Miranda Hart is a well-known British comedian, who won over audiences with her hit show Miranda.
The star opened up about her awkward encounter with Prince Harry on The Graham Norton Show
in 2015. It all happened when she hosted part of the Jubilee Concert, and had the chance
to meet both the princes.
"But I completely died on my ass with Harry, it was so embarrassing."
Hart went on to say that when she encountered Prince Harry, she apologized for the flirting
jokes she'd made in her speech, to which he replied:
"It's a shame there's not music here and dancing."
She explained that Prince Harry was just trying to be sweet — but then Hart made things
weird.
"And then I said, as a joke, but way too dryly, so he thought I was being serious, I went,
'I can hear music.'"
We can just imagine how embarrassing that moment must have been for Hart — and for
Prince Harry, who apparently had no idea how to respond and just walked away.
Prince Harry met Meghan Markle in 2016, and the rest was history. And while the pair hit
it off pretty quickly, one embarrassing instance proves that they weren't quite ready for marriage
right out of the gate.
When Prince Harry visited Antigua and Barbuda on a royal errand, the country's Prime Minister,
Gaston Browne, invited the royal and his new girlfriend to return to the country — for
their honeymoon! The BBC posted a video of the awkward exchange, in which the Prime Minister
said:
"Antigua and Barbuda has been voted consistently as the best honeymoon destination in the Caribbean."
"So, there will no be no other place in the Caribbean for sure that is better to spend
your upcoming honeymoon whenever that may arise."
Judging from the look on Harry's face, it's pretty clear the Prime Minister was a few
years ahead of the prince on this one!
Malala Yousafzai is an internationally recognized activist for gender equality in Pakistan and
the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Prince Harry met Yousafzai at the 2014 We Day assembly,
and the meeting turned out to be pretty awkward for them both.
Apparently, it all started innocently enough. According to event co-founder Craig Kielburger,
when the pair were posing for a photo together, Prince Harry casually tried to place his arm
around the activist's shoulder. Kielburger revealed to Hello! Magazine that Yousafzai's
mother started shouting, "'No, no no,' which translated to, 'Not unless you marry her can
you touch her.'" Yikes, the prince clearly didn't know the correct protocol!
Kielburger went on:
"The prince was so red in his face at that moment and he was clasping his hands in the
front. Malala was so embarrassed!"
And we aren't surprised — the moment sounds totally mortifying!
Anyone who follows the royals will know that etiquette matters.
"Your Majesty, your secretary briefed me on all the royal etiquette."
"We're not talking about salad forks, love, this ain't The Princess Diaries."
With the royal family, there is a correct time and place for everything. However, it
would seem that Prince Harry's wife Meghan didn't fully understand the intricacies of
royal etiquette — and she ended up seriously embarrassing her husband because of it.
According to the book Royals at War, written by journalists Dylan Howard and Andy Tillett,
Markle's pregnancy announcement was incredibly poorly timed. The book stated:
"Meghan put her foot in it when she decided that [Princess Eugenie's wedding reception]
would be the ideal moment to announce that she and Harry were expecting their first child."
As the book went on to explain, this was a "huge social gaffe" as it stole the limelight
from the bride. Oops!
Apparently, Markle's bad timing made both the bride and her mother furious. That must
have been pretty awkward for Prince Harry, who would have known just how serious Markle's
blunder was!
Most people who have grown up with social media accounts have their own embarrassing
online histories. Whether it's an old MySpace page, or an email address you made when you
were a teenager, we've all been there. But it may surprise you to learn that Prince Harry
has social media gaffes of his own. In 2020, Harper's Bazaar published an excerpt from
Finding Freedom, a biography about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle; it confirmed that
the royal had a super cringe-worthy Instagram handle back in the day.
Ready for it? Apparently, Prince Harry started an Instagram account under the hilarious name
@SpikeyMau5 back in 2016! The authors of the book revealed that the name was an homage
to the prince's love of house music and the producer DeadMau5. Apparently, "Spike" is
a nickname often used by Scotland Yard officers. Talk about an awkward revelation for Prince
Harry — or should we say "SpikeyMau5!"
Prince Harry frequently gives speeches in public as part of his royal duties — or
at least he did before moving to Los Angeles with Meghan. During one such event in 2019,
things didn't go according to plan when a pesky bee stole the prince's thunder.
The hilarious moment took place during Prince Charles' 70th birthday celebrations. As Prince
Harry delivered his speech, he was seen swatting away a bug that was flying close to his head.
Prince Harry then went quiet for a moment, before trying to continue, stumbling over
his words.
"Sorry, that bee really got me."
Apparently, bees don't have too much respect for royalty!
We're pretty impressed at how Prince Harry handled the situation so professionally. After
all, bee stings can be seriously painful!
Prince Harry has embarrassed himself in public due to his past wild behavior, but since he's
matured, he's tried to come across as a little more restrained. So when the royal visited
the Obamas in 2016, he was reportedly on his best behavior.
Everything was going swimmingly, until his nephew, Prince George, blew his cover! Michelle
Obama told the hilarious, awkward story in an interview with ABC News, saying:
"I have to say that the most precious thing — if you haven't already fallen in love
with [Harry] — is to see him with his nephew."
She went on to explain that Prince George was incredibly confused by Harry's demure
behavior, not understanding why he was being quiet.
"All throughout, he was like, 'Uncle Harry, why are you so quiet? Why are you so quiet?"
"So embarrassing."
This clearly wasn't the introduction to the Obamas he had hoped for!
Eventually Prince Harry explained Prince George's behavior: the boy was confused because his
uncle was on his "best behavior," when usually he'd "be throwing him around the room." What
an adorably awkward moment for the two princes!
Many professionals wouldn't want pictures of them playing with toys posted all over
the internet — especially not royals who are in line for the throne of England! However,
in 2016, Prince Harry and Prince William's fanboy excitement got the better of them when
they were shown around the Star Wars film set by actress Daisy Ridley. Apparently, the
two princes are huge fans of the franchise, and even filmed a scene for the movie as a
pair of stormtroopers!
"Oh. Really. Please."
"Boom."
At first, Prince Harry can be seen getting scared by a realistic looking weapon. Later
on, Prince Harry and Prince William got their hands on a couple of lightsabers, and had
a pretend, if not slightly pathetic, duel. While the photos may be a little embarrassing
for the two princes, they certainly had some fun on this royal outing!
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more List videos about your favorite
royals are coming soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss
a single one.