It’s probably safe to assume that Prince Harry thinks that any woman would love to receive a warm embrace or a token of physical attention from him. But he’d be wrong, as he found out the hard way a few years back.
Hello! unearthed an event that happened in 2014 at the We Day assembly at Wembley Arena, where Harry not only gave a speech, he got to meet Malala Yousafzai — the Pakistani schoolgirl who survived an attempted assassination by the Taliban when she defended her right to an education.
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Event co-founder Craig Kielburger told HELLO! that the event wasn’t exactly the meet-and-greet Harry was used to, recalling:
“Here is a funny but true story. I had the honor to introduce Prince Harry to Malala, the young girl who of course stood up against the Taliban. We were both backstage at We Day London. Malala, Your Highness so they met. Prince Harry put his arm around Malala for a photo and very loudly in the corner Malala’s mother in Urdu shouts ‘No, no no,’ which translated to ‘Not unless you marry her can you touch her.’ The Prince was so red in his face at that moment and he was clasping his hands in the front, Malala was so embarrassed.”
The two posed for a photo which Kielburger described as two awkward kids going to the prom. “They posed like two teenagers would, no hands touching in a line up getting ready to go to a prom. Every young woman’s dream, and I don’t think the Prince had ever been told that he can’t put his arm around someone.” Shouting aside, Keilburger said the scene was “Incredibly sweet and endearing.”