Prince William said it felt "weird" not to shake hands with people during the coronavirus pandemic. Photo / Getty Images
Prince William said it felt "weird" not to shake hands with people during the coronavirus pandemic. Photo / Getty Images
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will likely take after Princess Diana once they return to their public duties post-lockdown, claims a royal expert.
William and Kate are continuing to conduct virtual engagements and homeschool their children George, Charlotte, and Louis, according to the Daily Mail.
Despite plans for the lockdown to ease in the UK next week, there's no set plan as to when the royal family will reappear in public.
Royal writer Nigel Cawthorne told the Daily Mail he believes William and Kate will "take a leaf from Prince William and Harry's mother during the Aids epidemic" in their appearances post-lockdown.
"We now know how [Aids] is transmitted, but there was a lot of uncertainty at the time," he said.
"Ironically, at the time, shaking hands couldn't transmit the virus, and their mother made a point of doing so to counter the stigma and spread comfort.
Princess Diana helped break the stigma against Aids in the 1980s. Photo / File
"I think her sons will seek to do the same and show how life can resume normality, while sticking to the safety rules on transmission further to the latest guidance - washing hands frequently, wearing a face mask, particularly when coughing and sneezing or when exercising or singing, or mingling in a large group.
"Unless pregnant with child, they are not part of the 'at risk' demographic and will want to show that coronavirus may have changed lives, but it will not limit our hopes for the future."
In 1987, when the stigma against HIV was rampant, Diana was the first royal to touch an Aids patient, breaking down the notion that the disease could be transmitted through physical contact.
She was photographed shaking hands with an anonymous male Aids patient with no gloves on while opening the UK's first HIV/Aids unit at London Middlesex Hospital.
Prince William said it felt "weird" not to shake hands with people during the coronavirus pandemic. Photo / Getty Images
"HIV does not make people dangerous to know," the princess is quoted as saying.
"You can shake their hands and give them a hug. Heaven knows they need it."
Diana was a patron of the National AIDS Trust when she died in 1997.
Scientists have raised concerns the coronavirus pandemic could mean the end of handshaking and hugging for quite some time.
They have argued that bans on physical contact to slow the spread of the virus could pose a challenge to human social behaviour.
During the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey in March this year, William is said to have told Kate it was "weird" not to be able to shake hands with people at the event.
Royal expert Camilla Tominey said The Telegraph's lip reader quoted him as saying: "We can't shake hands and we have to hold back. We will have to put loads of hand gel on afterwards. I am not used to it, it feels weird."
