“... dwarfed the Emperor in her silver stilettos,”
That’s where the problem arose. She wears flats all the time, to wear stilettos on this occasion was beyond a protocol breach; it was just ignorant idiocy. Since these people have no innate “class,” you’d hope the Protocol Office would save them (and the country) this type embarrassment.
They’re only about 2” heels; she still would have towered over the Emperor. And she’s just as ungraceful in flats.