Malala Yousafzai is sharing a royal encounter that took an unexpectedly awkward turn.
During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show on October 31, the Nobel Peace Prize winner recalled how her mother firmly told off Prince Harry after he placed his arm around Malala for a photo.
“My mum was also very strict, she wanted me to stick to the Pakistani traditional culture,” Malala said. “So when I met Prince Harry, we were taking a photo together and he put his arm around my shoulder and my mum goes up to him and she says, ‘Remove.’ She just, like, shoves off his hand,” she recalled.
Malala, who was 17 at the time, added that her family’s protective instincts came from deeply rooted cultural traditions.
When asked about the incident again on Lorraine Kelly's ITV show, she elaborated, “Prince Harry was very, very sweet and he put his arm around me… but my mum, because of the culture, it’s a man putting an arm around a girl. She just went up to Prince Harry and said, ‘Remove — no touch.’ I was terrified when that was happening — poor Prince Harry, his face went red.”
Despite the awkward first meeting, the activist and the Duke of Sussex later reconnected in 2020 for a virtual chat alongside Meghan Markle on International Day of the Girl.
The trio discussed global education for young women during the pandemic. “When young girls have access to education, everyone wins,” Meghan said during the call.
Meanwhile, King Charles III’s youngest son reflected, “To know there are 113 million girls out of education, the numbers only go up. It worries me and probably worried all of us, the effect of that has not only on the family but also on society as well.”
