The Hilarious Reason Geri Halliwell's Lipstick Got Her in Trouble With the Royal Family

Sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs before kissing a prince, or so the fairy tales tell us. For the Spice Girls, they went straight to the prince — Prince Charles to be precise. And they were no strangers to bending the rules and spicing things up, even when it came to the royal family.

Makeup artist to the famous five Karin Darnell told POPSUGAR that Geri Halliwell's look was "all about a red lip," and it once got her in a teeny bit of trouble. In 1997, after attending a Royal Gala evening at the royal opera house in London, the four girls dared Geri — Darnell called it a "king dare" — to kiss Prince Charles on the cheek. She recalled that this is strictly against royal protocol. While people are allowed to shake the hands of royals, kissing is most definitely not considered acceptable behavior . . . but do you think that stopped Ginger Spice? Darnell said Halliwell was probably wearing a MAC red lipstick (we're putting our bets on Russian Red) with some heavy lip gloss, but this didn't stop her from going through with the dare, leaving a very noticeable red kiss stain on Prince Charles's cheek.

Although we bet the palace had a word with their management after the dare, it didn't stop Halliwell from being invited back to royal events. In fact, her and the Prince go way back. Ahead, get a closer look at the cheeky moment, and some of the pair's sweetest encounters since.