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Cape Town - Even as a duchess and wife of a prince, Meghan Markle will have to master the ancient art of the curtsey.
But that’s the easy part – it’s who she’ll have to bow and scrape for that gets a bit tricky.
Hold on to your fascinators, this is about to get complicated!
According to Daily Mail, the 36-year-old will have to curtsey to Queen Elizabeth II within the royal court if she sees her for the first time that day.
This is thanks to The Order of Precedence, which was set up by Her Majesty’s private secretary in 2005.
The royal family’s official website states that there aren’t any “obligatory codes of behaviour when meeting The Queen or a member of the Royal Family, but many people wish to observe the traditional forms”.
Meghan, who was recently baptised, will also have to curtsey to the 91-year-old monarch’s husband Prince Phillip and first-in-line to the throne Prince Charles.
And because of Prince William’s position as potential future king, the former Suits actress will have to bob to both him and the Duchess of Cambridge.
She’ll also have to do so for blood princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and Charles’ wife Camilla, even though they’re all pretty far down the royal pecking order – but not if Prince Harry is with her.
In 2012, just before Kate said “I do” to her Prince Charming, Her Majesty updated The Order of Precedence to include the 36-year-old Duchess.
“Her place in the order of precedence is behind the blood royal Anne, Alexandra, Beatrice and Eugenie, although when William is by her side she is not expected to curtsey to the last two,” royal expert Christopher Wilson told The Express.
“Without William, Kate would curtsey to Camilla; with him, she would not. That’s unless Prince Charles is present, in which case she would.”
The same rules are likely to apply to Meghan after she married into the Royal family on May 19 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
Sources: express.co.uk, businessinsider.com, dailymail.co.uk, thetelgraph.co.uk
