Kate Middleton Will Never Give You Her Autograph Because It’s a Rule

Here’s a nightmare scenario: You’re out and about in the U.K. minding your own business, and suddenly Prince William or Prince Harry or Kate Middleton or even freaking Queen Elizabeth herself comes walking down the street. And here’s the kicker: You don’t have your cellphone so you can’t get a selfie with them. What do you do?!

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Here’s what you don’t do: Get an autograph. As it turns out, there’s an official rule that forbids certain members of the royal family from giving autographs to fans. It may sound like kind of a buzzkill, but there’s actually a super-legitimate reason for the rule. They want to try to prevent the risk of people forging royal signatures. According to The Express, the rule applies to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, the former Kate Middleton.

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Apparently, if you ask Charles for his autograph, he’ll give you a straight answer, saying, “Sorry, they don’t allow me to do that.” But there are exceptions to the rule — in 2010, he broke protocol by giving an autograph to a victim of a devastating flood. I guess the palace figures people aren’t willing to go to such lengths as losing everything they own in a flood just to get their hands on a royal signature for forgery reasons.

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Your best bet for a royal memento should you ever encounter a member of the family is to definitely have your phone on you, because rumor has it that Kate and Harry both love taking selfies with their fans. And in the age of the camera phone, who even collects autographs anymore?