Kate Middleton broke royal protocol during a poignant outing… but the reason she did so is heartwarming and shows her class

There’s nothing like looking into a busy crowd and spotting a familiar face smiling back at you. Kate, the Princess of Wales, was seven months pregnant with Prince Louis when she visited the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ London headquarters in February 2018. This marked the news that she had been announced as their new patron, as well as the patron of the Nursing Now campaign. While she was there, Kate toured many areas of St Thomas’ Hospital and visited the children on the Snow Leopard ward.

She then went on to meet several midwives and was reunited with someone very special. As she greeted the crowd, from the corner of her eye she saw Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent – the midwife who helped deliver Princess Charlotte in 2015 – and gave her an enormous hug. Kate’s midwives, Arona Ahmed and Professor Dunkley-Bent, were pictured smiling outside the hospital with the princess after Kate’s short 154-minute labour in 2015. A team of three midwives was on standby for more than a month to cover three shifts over a 24-hour period in case Kate was admitted early.

Kate, the Princess of Wales, was seven months pregnant with Prince Louis when she visited the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists London headquarters in February 2018

As she greeted the crowd saw Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent – the midwife who helped deliver Princess Charlotte in 2015 – and gave her an enormous hug

Professor Dunkley-Bent (L) is said to have built up a rapport with Kate as she also delivered Prince George in 2012

Professor Dunkley-Bent is said to have built up a rapport with Kate as she also delivered Prince George in 2012. In 2019 she was appointed into the most senior midwifery role in England, taking on the newly created role of chief midwifery officer. She is responsible for overseeing the delivery of measures to enhance safety and support. According to the Royal Family website, it suggests that upon meeting royalty, men should bow from the neck and women should dip into a small curtsey.

The same rules follow when you address a royal. It’s Your Royal Highness on the first meeting and subsequently Sir or Ma’am. But as royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told MailOnline: ‘The Queen once told Michelle Obama that royal protocol is rubbish, meaning that the Royal Family adapt it when it is appropriate to do so.’ Kate has often flexed the rules of royal protocol by giving out hugs and chatting extensively to adoring fans.