Princess Kate’s reaction to Tom Cruise holding her hand on the red carpet has gone viral on .

Kate and were at the Royal Film Performance screening of Cruise’s movie Top Gun: Maverick in Leicester Square on May 19, 2022, when the star of the show joined them on the red carpet.

Cruise, however, was a little more familiar than most of those who meet the royals as he took Kate by the hand while traversing some steps.

A clip of the moment went newly viral on TikTok this week, where it was liked 15.8k times and viewed 1.4 million times after it was posted with a message suggesting Cruise broke protocol in the way he interacted with Kate.

Footage of the awkward moment showed William give a wry smile and put his hand up to his throat.

And it triggered a deft piece of physical diplomacy from Kate, as she withdrew her hand then switched her clutch bag into the hand Cruise had been holding to prevent him from attempting the move again.

In reality, there are few codified rules in relation to how to greet the royals, but needless to say, etiquette does still apply.

Some fans replied to the TikTok video defending Cruise, however, with one saying: “Please he is only being courteous.”

Another wrote: “He is a gentleman. Doesn’t matter who could be next to him.”

Since then, Cruise has sat behind Kate at Wimbledon two years running and attended a London Air Ambulance fundraiser alongside Prince William in August.

At the time, Prince William gave a speech in which he thanked Cruise for his involvement: “I should also take this opportunity to give a mention to my – our – fellow pilot, Tom Cruise.

“Tom, huge thanks for supporting us tonight. And Tom, if you wouldn’t mind not borrowing either of the new helicopters for the next Mission Impossible, it would be appreciated.

“We have all seen on our screens that – how can I put it – you seem to have a different take on ‘normal wear and tear’ to the rest of us. It’s not the kind that buffs out.

“Anyway, an enormous thank you to all for being here tonight and for supporting such a wonderful cause.”

Williams Brown is Regalrumination.com‘s chief royal correspondent based in London. You can find him on X, formerly , at and read his stories on Regalrumination.com‘s .

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