EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
JOHANNES RADEBE
DANCING HIS WAY INTO THE NATION’S HEARTS
ON CURTSYING TO THE KING AND HOW HELLO! HELPED HIM FINALLY FIND HAPPINESS
Although his beloved family remain in South Africa, Johannes now feels that the UK – somewhere he can comfortably reveal his true self – is where he belongs
Johannes meets the then Earl of Wessex in May 2022
attends a state banquet for South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa last November
‘Prince Edward said: “My wife will go mad when she learns you’re here.” It hit me: I’m part of this country’s story now’
Dressed to the nines in an elegant white-tie dinner suit as he was presented to the King at Buckingham Palace, Johannes Radebe felt himself sinking to the floor in the deepest theatrical curtsy he had ever performed.
Recalling this extraordinary moment, the Strictly Come Dancing star booms with laughter at his over-exuberant spontaneous display in this exclusive interview with hello!.
“As I did it, I was thinking: ‘Johannes, what is wrong with you?’” he says, shaking his head. “It’s part of our culture as Africans to bow to an elder as a form of respect, but I don’t know what got into me to think this was a fitting way to greet the King.
“There was a gentle grin on his face as he picked me up with his eyes and said: ‘Hello, Johannes – welcome back to Buckingham Palace,’” he continues, recounting His Majesty’s kindly but bemused response.
MAJOR OCCASION
He was surrounded by royalty – including the Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh – as well as ministers and diplomats at the King’s first state banquet as monarch, held in honour of South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, ten weeks after the death of Elizabeth II.