Following a royal title shuffle in the wake of Queen Elizabeth's death, here is how Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle, Prince William and greater greet every other.
Following Queen Elizabeth's loss of life and a number of modifications in royal titles, many are left wondering: Who bows or curtsies to whom inside the royal family?
Just as public citizens do when assembly a royal, it is frequent to see contributors of the household showing respect whilst greeting each other — guys bow their heads while women dip into a curtsy. However, there are a few regulations concerned depending on rank.
After Queen Elizabeth's loss of life in September, her eldest son right now acceded to the throne as His Majesty King Charles alongside his wife, Her Majesty the Queen Consort (also regarded as Queen Camilla). All contributors of the royal family, which includes these with His/Her Royal Highness (HRH) titles, bow or curtsy to the monarch and his spouse when greeting them for the first time in a while — even his children!





Prince William, who became the Prince of Wales as heir to the throne, has been spotting bowing his head to greet his father and stepmother. Likewise, King Charles' daughter-in-law Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, dips into a curtsy to greet the monarch, as viewed at her Christmas carol live performance in December.
When Prince William and Kate — or different individuals of the royal family — don't bow or curtsy to greet the King and Queen Consort, there may be possibly a realistic reason why: they've likely already viewed every other that day. They're additionally viewed greeting every other with kisses on the cheeks or hugs.
And the rule for greeting the monarch with a bow or bend applies even on a royal bride or royal groom's wedding ceremony day! From then-Prince Charles and Princess Diana to Prince William and Kate to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, they all stopped on their wedding ceremony day to greet Queen Elizabeth with a bow or curtsy.
Such a formal greeting to a household member got here as a shock to Meghan when she was dating Prince Harry. Recalling assembly Queen Elizabeth for the first time for the duration of their Netflix exhibit Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex explained, "I take into account we had been in the car and we were using up and he is like, 'You recognize how to curtsy, right?' And I simply concept it was a joke."





"How do you give an explanation for that to people? How do you explain that you bow to your grandmother and that you would want to curtsy? Especially to an American. That's weird," Harry said.
King Charles recently made his younger brother Prince Edward the new Duke of Edinburgh, a title earlier held through their father, Prince Philip, until he died in April 2021. That makes Edward's wife, Sophie, the new Duchess of Edinburgh. While the couple retains their titles as the Earl and Countess of Wessex and Forfar, they will be known by means of their higher-ranking duke and duchess titles.
However, this doesn't change who they will bow and curtsy to — or who they will receive bows and curtsies from. That's due to the fact they already had HRH titles.
But what about all the royals with HRH titles?
"The commonplace rule of thumb to remember is that a Royal Highness does now not curtsy to every other Royal Highness," Myka Meier, an etiquette professional and the author of the e book Modern Etiquette Made Easy, tells PEOPLE. "Therefore, while the newly titled Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh will still have to curtsy to His Majesty King Charles and Her Majesty The Queen Consort, they will no longer have to curtsy any of the blood princes or princesses or these who have married one."



According to Debrett's, Kate and Meghan outrank blood contributors of the royal family — however solely when they're with their husbands, Prince William and Prince Harry. "Protocol dictates that when the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Sussex are now not accompanied by means of their husbands, Princess of the Royal Blood, such as Princess Beatrice and Eugenie, rank above them. However, when the Duchesses are accompanied by using their husbands, the roles are reversed and the duchesses outrank the princesses," they state.
It's also doubtful if Meghan and Prince Harry's children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, will use HRH titles. They grew to become a prince and princess when their grandfather King Charles acceded the throne and their titles have been currently mirrored on the royal household website, but there has been no announcement made involving their HRH status. Meghan and Prince Harry formally retained their HRH styles after they stepped again from their working royal roles, however they do not actively use them.

Tags: Queen, Prince Charles, Camilla, Prince Louis, Prince William and Kate Middleton, Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Meghan, Lilibet


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