Billie Eilish Learned All the Etiquette Before Meeting the Royal Family — Then Didn’t Even Curtsy

Billie Eilish recalled frantically learning the proper etiquette for meeting the Royal Family last year, only to watch all that hard work be for nothing, during an interview with Fitzy and Wippa on Australia’s Nova radio station.

Eilish got to meet then-Prince (now-King) Charles, as well as prince William and Kate Middleton, at the premiere of the latest James Bond flick, No Time to Die (Eilish recorded the film’s theme song). Eilish explained that she did all sorts of prep for the meeting, quipping, “I was ready to curtsy. I was ready to not shake a hand. I was ready to not ask questions and not speak unless I was spoken to. And I was so worried about it.”

All that studying and angst, however, turned out to be for naught as Eilish was startled by how friendly the Royals were when they walked in. Eilish added that she and her brother, Finneas, were standing next to No Time to Die co-writer, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and asking her if she “knew the protocols” and that “you have to curtsy.” 

“She was like, ‘No,’” Eilish quipped. “And we were like, ‘Oh. Ok. Nobody prepped you on the protocol?’ And she said, ‘No are we supposed to do something specific?’ We just thought it this big thing with all these rules.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Eilish opened up about overcoming her fear of being out in public after rising to stardom. “I used to go out and like walk around and do stuff,” she said. “And I don’t do that as much. Because life is a little different.” But the singer said she’s not learned how to take advantage of her downtime and find new ways to get herself out and about. “I have been doing more stuff. But I also just been busy,” she adds. “We were in New Zealand, and we went on a bike ride… I’ve been I’ve been going out more for the last couple of years.”

Eilish is currently trekking through Australia in support of her most recent album, Happier Than Ever. The run is set to conclude on Sept. 30 in Perth.

From Rolling Stone US.