Princess Kate’s curtsies to King Charles III, Queen Camilla and Queen Elizabeth II went viral on TikTok.
The Princess of Wales is among the most senior British royals but still not at the top of the pecking order, meaning she must curtsy, out of respect, to Charles and Camilla. The same was also true in relation to Elizabeth before her death in September 2022.
An edit of some of her best examples of the royal tradition went viral on TikTok, and included two high-pressure moments.
Why It Matters
Royal curtsies became politicized after Harry & Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s December 2022 Netflix biopic, which saw Meghan criticized for a mock reenactment of her first curtsy to the queen.
The TikTok post was liked 24,400 times and viewed 673,000 times having been posted with the message: “Her curtsies are on another level.”
What to Know
The first clip shows Kate curtsy to the king and Camilla during her annual Together at Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey on December 15, 2022.
It was a high-pressure moment for the royals because the second part of Harry & Meghan had just dropped on Netflix, and the eyes of the world were waiting with bated breath for any hint of how they really felt about the show and its bombshells.
The next clip showed Kate curtsy to Queen Elizabeth at her wedding, at Westminster Abbey, in April 2011.
In the third, Kate curtsied to the queen at Windsor Castle in December 2020 during a socially distanced meeting of the most senior royals to thank volunteers and key workers who risked their lives to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A further clip showed Kate curtsy to the queen on Easter Sunday at St George’s Chapel, on April 21, 2019, and another was at the Chelsea Flower Show, in London, on May 20 the same year.
Meghan Markle’s Famous Curtsy
In the Harry & Meghan documentary, Meghan described curtsying to the queen for the first time at Royal Lodge, Prince Andrew’s Windsor home: “I mean, Americans would understand this. We have Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament. It was like that.”
She then performed a dramatic bow, bending at the waist and spreading her arms wide on both sides.
Her account sparked a backlash and allegations she was being culturally insensitive to Britain.
However, the saga was also confusing in light of the fact Prince Harry said in his book she performed the curtsy well: “We entered the large front sitting room and there she was. Granny. The monarch. Queen Elizabeth II. Standing in the middle of the room. She turned slightly. Meg went straight to her and dropped a deep, flawless curtsy.”
And after Elizabeth left, Harry wrote: “Everyone complimented Meg on her curtsy. So good! So deep!”
Meghan also did not mention any awkwardness to Oprah Winfrey in 2021: “I practiced very quickly and went in, and apparently, I did a very deep curtsy, and we just sat there and we chatted and it was lovely and easy and I think, thank God I hadn’t known a lot about the family.
“Thank God, I hadn’t researched. I would have been so in my head about all of it.”
Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.
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