BLACKPINK Got a Very Special Honor from King Charles

May 2024 · 2 minute read

Keeping up the royal tradition of inviting super-powerful girl groups into the hallowed halls of Buckingham Palace, King Charles invited South Korean power group BLACKPINK — Roseanne Park (aka Rosé), Jennie Kim, Jisoo Kim and Lalisa Manoban (simply Lisa to fans) — for a very special ceremony. The performers are now honorary Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) and the ceremony was overseen by some other very important emissaries of Korean culture: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and First Lady Kim Keon Hee. BLACKPINK's appearance at the palace mirrors the moment when the Spice Girls met a then-Prince Charles in 1997 and Ginger Spice, née Geri Halliwell, gave his bum a little pinch (she claims it was a "pat").

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BLACKPINK recieved the honors during a private investiture on Wednesday morning in the 1844 Room at Buckingham Palace and, according to People, "made on the recommendation of the U.K. government following their vocal support for the campaign to highlight climate change."

Victoria Jones - Pool/Getty Images

There were festivities outside Buckingham Palace, too, with the military band of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards playing the group's track "DDU-DU DDU-D" during the changing of the guard.

The group also attended a state banquet in the palace ballroom later in the day, where they swapped their prim-and-proper suiting for more dramatic evening gowns. 

Yui Mok / POOL / AFP

"It is especially inspiring to see Korea’s younger generation embrace the cause,” Charles said during the ceremony. “I applaud Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa and Rosé, better known collectively as BLACKPINK, for their role in bringing the message of environmental sustainability to a global audience as Ambassadors for the U.K.’s Presidency of COP 26, and later as advocates for the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.”

“I can only admire how they can prioritize these vital issues, as well as being global superstars,” Charles finished. “Sadly, when I was in Seoul all those years ago, I am not sure I developed much of what might be called the Gangnam Style!”

BLACKPINK has also been appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres as global ambassadors for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, adding another major accomplishment to their belts. 

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