--- description: A faux pas went down when he met the royal family for the first time title: Sam Smith Blames 'Downton Abbey' for a Recent Faux Pas image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Sam Smith Blames _Downton Abbey_ for a Recent Faux Pas by [Samantha Grossman](/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 12, 2015 4:17 PM CUT by [Samantha Grossman](/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 12, 2015 4:17 PM CUT On Wednesday night, Sam Smith dropped by _The Tonight Show_, a few days ahead of his upcoming appearance on _Saturday Night Live._ Jimmy Fallon decided to take this as an opportunity to tease Smith about a recent faux pas. “You got to meet the royal family,” Fallon says, as Smith starts to bury his face in his hands. “And it didn’t go _that_ well.” Fallon shows the crowd a picture of Smith shaking hands with Prince William while bowing deeply. Much too deeply. Prince William clearly looks amused. “My issue is that I watch too much _Downtown Abbey_,” Smith explains. “You get instructions, they say you’ve got to bow with one arm behind your back. If someone tells you to bow — I properly went for it!” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4109958/sam-smith-royal-family-downton-abbey/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4109958/sam-smith-royal-family-downton-abbey/"},"headline":"Sam Smith Blames Downton Abbey for a Recent Faux Pas","datePublished":"2015-11-12T16:17:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:26:53.407Z","description":"It went down when he met the royal family for the first time","url":"https://time.com/4109958/sam-smith-royal-family-downton-abbey/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrity"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"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-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4109958/sam-smith-royal-family-downton-abbey/","name":"Sam Smith Blames Downton Abbey for a Recent Faux Pas"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Sam Smith Wins Top Male Artist of 2015","description":"Sam Smith Wins Top Male Artist of 2015","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/JdSsoDXD/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-05-18T01:33:38.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/JdSsoDXD.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4109958/sam-smith-royal-family-downton-abbey/","duration":"PT26S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4109958/sam-smith-royal-family-downton-abbey/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```