Will Montecito-Raised Princess Lilibet Learn Royal Curtsy Rules Like Her Cousin, Princess Charlotte?
Princess Lilibet celebrated her fifth birthday on June 4. The happy occasion marks a milestone for the pint-sized royal, who is being raised in Montecito, California, by her parents, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.
Princess Lilibet must follow this royal rule if she ever meets the King
According to tradition, once younger members of the royal family reach age 5, they are expected to know how to follow certain royal rules of etiquette. Specifically, after her fifth birthday, the young princess is required to bow or curtsy in front of the sovereign.
“Certainly by age five,” royal expert Marlene Eilers Koenig told Hello! of when younger royals are expected to start showing proper deference. “The only person they will curtsy or bow to is the sovereign. A royal highness does not curtsy to another royal highness. Yes, there are articles that state this, but it is not true.”
In general, royal children begin learning appropriate rules for behavior when they are quite young.
“Etiquette training for the royals starts as soon as they’re old enough to sit at a table,” Myka Meier of Beaumont Etiquette, told People in 2018. “They are raised having formal meals, going to formal events and practicing everything from voice levels to dressing appropriately to even, of course, how to curtsy and bow.”
Lilibet’s cousin, Princess Charlotte, age 11, has already shown off her curtsying skills. She was captured curtsying to her grandfather, King Charles III, at his coronation. But the footage from the BBC documentary also made it clear that while the family observes royal traditions, they are not overly stiff and formal. Charlotte only curtseyed after receiving a warm hug from her grandfather.
Will Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s kids ever get to know their royal relatives?
It’s not clear what royal etiquette lessons Lilibet and her brother, Prince Archie, might be receiving from their parents. Meghan and Harry have chosen to raise their two children away from the pomp and circumstance of royal life in the U.K. The two youngsters have been largely insulated from royal life and have had limited interaction with their extended family. Charles has not seen either Archie or Lilibet since 2022. While the King is reportedly eager to get to know Harry’s kids, the prince’s concerns about security and travel in the U.K. have so far prevented that meeting.
If Harry and Meghan are able to arrange a visit to the U.K. for their kids to meet their grandfather, they’ll likely have to prepare the little ones well in advance. Even if Archie and Lilibet have been receiving royal etiquette lessons, they’ll so far have had little use for them in laid-back Southern California. But Harry – who famously renounced his royal duties in 2020 – may have schooled his kids in proper manners, with an eye on an eventual meeting with their grandfather (and possibly their cousins, Prince William and Kate Middleton’s three kids).
“He’s not given up hope on bringing his family back to the U.K.,” a source recently told The Times (via Cosmopolitan). “He wants to be able to show his children where he grew up.”
The source added: “He wants them to know their family here. He really would like to come back to the U.K. much more.”
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