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Prince William and the Princess of Wales’ (formerly known as Kate Middleton) daughter, Princess Charlotte, has become an expert in royal protocol.

The young princess made news in June 2022 during Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee when she was seen reminding her older brother, Prince George, to keep his arms down at his sides and watch his posture while singing the national anthem.

Then in September 2022, during Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral, footage showed Charlotte again keeping George in line as she instructed him when it was time to bow before the queen’s coffin. The prince appeared to be listening to his sister intently and then when the moment came he knew to bow his head while she curtsied as their great-grandmother’s coffin passed by them.

Prince George and Princess Charlotte standing side by side during Queen Elizabeth II's funeral
Prince George and Princess Charlotte standing side by side during Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral | Karwai Tang/WireImage

Before that, the first time the public saw Princess Charlotte curtsy to the queen was during her and George’s first Christmas walk with the rest of the royal family to church in 2019.

Charlotte, who was just 4 years old at the time, held her mother’s hand as the family filed out of St. Mary Magdalene’s Church on the Sandringham estate. Cameras captured Charlotte following her mom’s lead when Queen Elizabeth got into a waiting car. As the vehicle started to drive off, Kate did a curtsy before her daughter followed suit.

Princess Charlotte lost her balance after curtsying to the king

Princess Charlotte’s been performing perfect curtsies ever since. She was even able to maintain looking graceful when she lost her balance curtsying to the current monarch. That happened on May 7, 2023, during the Coronation Concert which was held outside Windsor Castle.

Kate and Charlotte were at their seats when King Charles III and Queen Camilla made their way to the royal box. Charlotte is seen curtsying to her grandfather but then stumbles a bit. The 18-second clip has over 55,000 views and more than a dozen comments.

The video, which was posted on YouTube in the days following the royal concert, is being shared again after a similar video on TikTok amassed over 5 million views. But it’s what Princess Charlotte didn’t do in the videos that has a lot of people talking.

Did Charlotte curtsy to Queen Camilla?

When the clip started making the rounds again, there was chatter that Charlotte only curtsied to her grandpa King Charles, not Queen Camilla. However, the princess refusing to curtsy to her step-grandmother likely isn’t what was happening there.

Charlotte actually had her head turned the opposite way as the queen walked past her. Therefore, the princess likely didn’t see her right away and may have performed her cursty a moment later. We don’t know for sure by looking at the video because it ends before showing what the princess did next.

Also, it is possible that Charlotte saw Camilla earlier in the day. If that was the case, the princess would not need to curtsy to the queen a second time because she already did so once.