Declan Donnelly was "really excited" to meet Prince Charles when he collected his OBE.
The 41-year-old English television presenter – who is known as Dec – and his colleague and best friend Anthony McPartlin recently received the honour, but Dec has revealed he was overwhelmed when he saw the 68-year-old royal he "forgot" the protocol he was told to follow and tried to shake the Prince of Wales’ hand – a gesture which was rejected by Charles during the ceremony.
Speaking about the unforgettable moment on ‘The Nightly Show’ on Thursday evening (23.03.17),m which was hosted by Dermot O’Leary, Dec said: "You know, they come and tell you the protocol. You come out and you stand there next … and then they say your name and on your Christian name, you move forward, you take two steps. You turn, you bow from the neck not from the waist and then you go forward and Prince Charles will pin the thing to you.
"And I just got really excited and forgot it all … I put my hand out to shake his [Prince Charles’] hand and it’s like he’s got this thing in his hand so I was like, OK I’ll just put that back there."
However, Dec wasn’t the only one to be overcome with nerves and excitement ahead of seeing the royal and receiving the accolade, as his 41-year-old presenting partner found the whole day "really weird".
Ant added: "I didn’t know what to do! It was really weird; there was like 10 people in front of me and I was like [waving]. ‘Are you alright? Are you nervous? Good luck!’
"The guy next to me blew glass for medical experiments. And we feed testicles to celebrities so you know, we’ve all got at a skill in life."
Declan Donnelly was ‘really excited’ to meet Prince Charles
