Emerson Aparecido Leite de Souza Junior had already anticipated the angle of attack and predicted where this interview was likely to start as he settled into his chair.
'Why do you call yourself Royal?' was the question and the Tottenham and Brazil defender laughed loudly. 'What did I tell you,' he says to nobody in particular. 'Everybody asks me that.'
The answer relates to a simple story from his childhood. One of his aunties first called him 'Royal' because she thought he resembled the mascot on the Royal brand of jelly sold in Brazil. And it stuck.