Queen Camilla Broke Royal Protocol While Meeting With a Spice Girl at the Palace

She hosted the pop star amidst her ongoing health issues.

Queen Camilla spiced up her life with an unexpected visitor at Buckingham Palace on Thursday. While the queen has been taking a break from her royal duties as she continues to recover from a chest infection, she made room in her schedule for a sweet meeting with a Spice Girl as she hosted finalists of her 2024 Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition. On November 21, Ginger Spice was one of the select few whom Camilla invited to the Palace for a special reception.

The “Wannabe” singer, whose real name is Geri Halliwell-Horner, is a longtime supporter of literacy charities, making her an ideal guest as Queen Camilla recognized two winners from nearly 35,000 competition entries. Wearing a cream tweed coat decorated with gold buttons and her strawberry blonde hair in a low ponytail, Halliwell-Horner was photographed warmly talking with Camilla and clasping her hands between her own during the intimate reception.

It’s not the first time that the star has been in attendance at the annual essay competition reception (or the first time she’s met Camilla), as she also attended the event in 2019, 2021, and 2022 while wearing different shades of winter white. They also work together for the Royal Commonwealth Society, where the former Spice Girl serves as a literacy ambassador. The pair appear to be tight friends, as they’ve been photographed breaking royal protocol by holding hands and hugging each other at each of the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition receptions.

However, the TV personality is far from the only Spice Girl to have a close relationship with the royals. The “friendship never ends” memo also extends to the rest of the iconic girl group, as they’ve been pictured hanging out with King Charles, Prince William, Prince Harry, and even Queen Elizabeth throughout the decades.

While Queen Camilla hosted the gathering on Thursday, she surprised royal watchers when she bowed out of the Royal Variety Performance the night after, citing ongoing health issues. However, according to royal insiders, there’s “no cause for alarm.”

Friends close to the royal reportedly told The Daily Mail that the queen was “on good form,” but decided to pull out of the annual Royal Albert Hall engagement because “she didn’t want to spoil anyone else’s enjoyment with her cough."

A few hours before the November 22 event, Buckingham Palace released a statement saying, “Following a recent chest infection, The Queen continues to experience some lingering post-viral symptoms, as a result of which doctors have advised that, after a busy week of engagements, Her Majesty should prioritize sufficient rest. With great regret, she has therefore withdrawn from attendance at tonight’s Royal Variety Performance."