The weird reason why Meghan Markle will still have to curtsy to Kate Middleton
Now that Meghan Markle is a part of the royal family, she will have to wade her way through the myriad number of rules and royal etiquette that the royal family members must follow at all times. And the new royal has to now understand correctly the know-how of how to meet, greet, and show respect to members of her new extended family.
The new Duchess of Sussex, who got married to Prince Harry on Saturday, May 19, will have to follow some pretty intense, age-old rules, including the slightly confusing curtsy.
According to the rules of the royal family, the female members of the family are usually given lower rank than their male counterparts, and until recently, the wives of the queen's sons were given a higher rank than her daughters and granddaughters.
Which means, owing to this very silly and orthodox rule, Meghan Markle will also have to curtsy to her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton.
According to royal traditions, Meghan is supposed to curtsy to only the people who outrank her, which includes the Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, and Camilla. Even Prince William gets a curtsy from her since he is the next in line to the throne, and therefore, so does his wife, i.e. Kate Middleton.
The whole curtsy situation just gets worse from here on. Meghan is supposed to curtsy to all the blood princesses, i.e. the princesses born into the royal family like Princess Anne, Princess Alexandra, Princess Beatrice, and Princess Eugenie since they out-rank her.
However, if Meghan has Prince Harry in the room with her, the same blood princesses will have to curtsy to her instead, since she, coupled with Prince Harry, out-rank her in the pecking order.
"A curtsy to Princess Anne? Yes," a source explained the confusing custom to MailOnline. "She’s the daughter of the Sovereign. Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice? Yes. But not if Harry’s in the room; then they should curtsy to her. Nor before Princess Anne’s daughter Zara Phillips, who despite being a blood royal will still be below Meghan in the pecking order (and expected to curtsy to her if Harry is present)."
Even Kate has to follow the weird rules and has to curtsey to almost all the same people that Meghan has to. However, her dynamics change when her husband, Prince William is present in the room with her. "Without William, Kate would curtsy to Camilla; with him, she would not," the source explains. "That’s unless Prince Charles is present, in which case she would."
Although there is no absolute law that enforces a curtsy, it is considered to be a sign of respect and therefore, is followed by the family at a state function, official event, or celebrating Christmas in Sandringham.
The complicated rules were drawn up by the Queen herself in a 2005 document called "Precedence Of The Royal Family To Be Observed At Court", which was required to "clarify Camilla’s position in the hierarchy following her marriage to Charles."
