When Your Royalty Met Ours: Kate Meets Beyoncé Courtside

The Internet held up pretty well, all things considered.

Queen Bey met the future queen of England on Monday night, with their husbands, Prince William and Jay Z, playing second fiddle (not for the first time, it must be said).

The PA system played Rule Brittania”—followed by “Crazy in Love,” which is quite a mash-up, we feel sure you’ll agree.

And, stop the presses—Kate wore jeans. Black ones, paired with a Tory Burch coat dress.

The meeting of pop and constitutional royalty came courtside as the Brooklyn Nets faced off against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. In the break between the third and fourth quarters (you’ll have to forgive this British writer any mistakes in basketball terminology; I would do the same for you if you were reporting on a cricket match) William and Kate were greeted by Jay and Bey, who strolled over to say hi.

Jay casually ignored all etiquette rules as he put a hand on William’s arm.

William and Kate had come on the court after the second quarter, having previously eaten dinner in a private area, but were seated opposite Jay and Bey.

They were greeted by huge cheers.

As my colleague Justin Jones points out, the two “royal” families sat where, almost 240 years ago, the Battle of Brooklyn—fought between the American and British armies—raged.

There was no shortage of political expression Monday night, however, as several hundred protesters staged a “die-in” outside the stadium, lying on the ground to vent their anger at a grand jury’s decision not to indict a white NYPD officer who killed an unarmed black man, Eric Garner.

LeBron James was among players who wore an “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirt in the warm-up before the game in a display of solidarity. (He later said he met William and Kate after the game.)

The basketball game was the final engagement on a seriously busy day for the young royals.

William took a day trip to Washington, D.C., to meet President Obama and attend the International Corruption Hunters Alliance conference, while Kate spent the morning with New York first lady Chirlane McCray at a Harlem youth center.

The president praised Wiliam’s efforts to combat the illegal wildlife trade, saying: “I think it’s very important work.”

William joked to Obama that he had forgotten to ask whether Prince George was a boy or a girl in the moments after the royal birth.

“I didn’t work out whether it was a boy or a girl,” the duke told the president. “The excitement of the event and everything else was just chaos, so you’re suddenly like: ‘Actually, it’s a boy in the end.’”

“You forgot to ask?” Obama said, through laughter, according to an eyewitness report of the meeting in The Telegraph.

With her husband in D.C., Kate undertook a string of public engagements in New York on Monday, including a visit to a youth center in Harlem.

Tuesday looks to be just as hectic. Will and Kate will start with a visit to the 9/11 Memorial downtown, and end with a monster fundraiser at the Met.

But will anything on this tour be able to match Monday night’s meeting for sheer star power? We seriously doubt it.