--- title: LeBron James Touched Kate Middleton After His Game in Brooklyn description: LeBron James kind of broke royal protocol after his game attended by Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge canonical: https://time.com/3626907/lebron-james-princess-kate-brooklyn/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-10T02:16:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:42:44.988Z og:title: LeBron Kind of Broke Royal Protocol With Princess Kate og:description: Watch that arm! og:url: https://time.com/3626907/lebron-james-princess-kate-brooklyn/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5fec5ecf0915ec4/69876dd95f570f502bb1418a/kate-middleton-lebron-james.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4500 og:image:height: 2531 og:image:alt: Catherine Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William with Lebron James at the Brooklyn Nets vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA Basketball game on Dec. 8, 2014 in New York. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: LeBron Kind of Broke Royal Protocol With Princess Kate twitter:description: Watch that arm! twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5fec5ecf0915ec4/69876dd95f570f502bb1418a/kate-middleton-lebron-james.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # LeBron Kind of Broke Royal Protocol With Kate > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters.  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Dec 10, 2014 2:16 AM UTC  Catherine Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William with Lebron James at the Brooklyn Nets vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA Basketball game on Dec. 8, 2014 in New York. Catherine Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William with Lebron James at the Brooklyn Nets vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA Basketball game on Dec. 8, 2014 in New York.Michael Dunlea—AP  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Dec 10, 2014 2:16 AM UTC To an American eye, there was nothing strange about a sweaty LeBron James putting his arm around Kate to pose for a photograph after his Cleveland Cavaliers played the Brooklyn Nets on Monday evening. To the [British](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/kate-middleton/11281726/Watch-LeBron-James-breaks-royal-protocol-with-Kate-Duchess-of-Cambridge.html), though, merely touching the Duchess of Cambridge represents a serious breach in etiquette. Someone get some smelling salts! While U.S. headlines cooed over the adorable mini-jersey James presented to Prince William and Kate, who were in New York as part of their three-day visit, British [tabloids](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2866696/The-moment-basketball-s-King-James-risked-spell-royal-sin-bin-NBA-star-LeBron-James-breaches-protocol-putting-arm-Kate-s-shoulder-post-match-meeting.html) led with the fact that star basketball player inadvertently violated royal protocol. While the website of the Monarchy stipulates that “there are no obligatory codes of behavior” for meeting a member of the royal family, the more understood protocol is, well, don’t touch or speak to a royal unless you’re touched or spoken to first. First Lady Michelle Obama broke this [unofficial rule in 2009](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/g20-summit/5091915/Michelle-Obama-hugs-the-Queen.html) when she put her arm around Queen Elizabeth II. The media went wild, but the Queen was cool with it, though, because Obama’s arms are amazing. ### See The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Meet the King and Queen of Hip Hop  Prince William and Catherine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are displayed on the Jumbotron during the basketball game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Dec. 8, 2014. Kathy Willens—AP  The Duchess, who is five months pregnant, wore a coat the covered her baby bump. Robert Deutsch—USA Today Sports  Between the 3rd and 4th quarter of the game, Beyonce and Jay Z approached the royal couple to say hello. Rich Kane—UPI/Landov  Onlookers tried to catch the momentous meeting on their smartphones while the royal couples tried to act totally normal. Kathy Willens—AP  There was another royal at Barclays that night-- LeBron James, known as King James, led the Cleveland Cavaliers to victory over the Brooklyn Nets Jason Szenes—EPA  Former Houston Rockets player Dikembe Mutombo talks to the Duchess as they sit courtside. Kathy Willens—AP  Even royals need snacks. Rich Kane—UPI/Landov  LeBron James presented the Duke and Duchess with two Cavaliers jerseys, including one for baby George. Getty Images _Read next:_ [_LeBron James Gave William and Kate a Cavaliers Jersey for Prince George_](http://time.com/3624821/lebron-james-william-kate-cavaliers-jerseys/?xid=time%5Freadnext) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3626907/lebron-james-princess-kate-brooklyn/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3626907/lebron-james-princess-kate-brooklyn/"},"headline":"LeBron Kind of Broke Royal Protocol With Kate","datePublished":"2014-12-10T02:16:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:42:44.988Z","description":"Watch that arm!","url":"https://time.com/3626907/lebron-james-princess-kate-brooklyn/","keywords":["Living","Michelle Obama","kate middleton","Lebron James","royals"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5fec5ecf0915ec4/69876dd95f570f502bb1418a/kate-middleton-lebron-james.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5fec5ecf0915ec4/69876dd95f570f502bb1418a/kate-middleton-lebron-james.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Catherine Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William with Lebron James at the Brooklyn Nets vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA Basketball game on Dec. 8, 2014 in New York.","caption":"Catherine Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William with Lebron James at the Brooklyn Nets vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA Basketball game on Dec. 8, 2014 in New York.","creditText":"Michael Dunlea—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3626907/lebron-james-princess-kate-brooklyn/","name":"LeBron Kind of Broke Royal Protocol With Kate"}}]}] ```