If you met the Queen, would you curtsey (or bow if you are a man)?

[BakeliteBelle]

Because I would like to think - like Cherie Blaire - I wouldn't.

no way and double no way if Charles were ever king!

No, Hecate summed it up for me.

I'd have to not meet her, I think. But tbh the fervent desire to meet her, unless one had some very practical reason, would be just as cringing as curtseying, wouldn't it?

if I was working for a charity or something where we felt there was some practical benefit for the charity in terms of publicity in someone meeting the queen I think I'd just have to say 'look, I can't curtsey, someone else do the meeting'. that's probably hypocritical or something.

When I was a child once some of my grandma's friends all gathered at grandma's house after some kind of event they were all involved in at which Princess Anne had been present, and the bitching that went on and sucking up they described made a great (negative) impression on me.
people who had been working together on something for years were falling out because one of them had talked to Princess Anne for longer than the others and the others were jealous.

My exception would be if Camilla was ever Queen.

my mum always said she wouldn't curtsey and then she got invited to a Buck Palace garden party and couldn't quite bring herself to turn it down so she spent the whole event hiding in the obscurest bits of the gardens just in case she bumped into someone royal

(But apparently you had to queue up for ages to meet the queen in a special queen-meeting tent so I don't think she was actually in much danger)

I'm Dutch/Irish so as she's not my monarch, no, I wouldn't (plus I'm really clumsy and would fall over trying to curtsey )

am really interested in what people have said about curtseying to elderly relatives - which countries was this in?
dd just pointed out that Pippi Longstocking curtseys to Mrs Settergreen, I always thought that was Pippi being over-the-top but perhaps not?

I met the Princess of Wales (Diana), through my job, and was briefed on how to curtsey beforehand.

I did ballet for years as a child so got quite into the sweeping into a deep reverence thingthat allthe ballet books talk about :)

But in the end, i first met her on a staircase and curtseying on a staircase is fuckingimpossible so i did a little bob and then when we got to the top of the stairs i tried to do a "proper" curtsey but by that time' Diana had turned on her heel and was walking away from me into another room.

And i say all that as a committed repiblican and feminist :)

No, definitely wouldn't, but probably wouldn't meet the Queen either as I am just not interested.

I think that "court etiquette" could learn from normal manners. I think it was quite rude of the Queen not to meet the Middletons until last week (given that they attended some of the same events) and for her not to meet William's girlfriend for about 5 years.

I agree, breathe. That's pretty rude in my book. Much worse than getting a curtsey 'wrong' or not saying Ma'am to rhyme with Spam or whatever.

No

no, would I fuck as like

Seriously, did the queen not meet the middletons until last week?

they are a weird bunch of sods, the royals

I blame inbreeding

I met Princess Anne and didn't curtsey, I sort of bobbed my head a bit. My boss later informed me that "Hi, how're you" is not the way to greet royalty. Mind you, another person asked her husband (Tim whatsisface?) how he was involved in the charity. He said "my wife is the patron".

I met the horrid red headed one quite a lot too. No head bobbing or curtseying for her (although she is no longer royalty, so not an issue). However, I had to learn to control my natural eye rolling whenever she said something silly (every few minutes) in meetings with her. Although she is lacking intellect she can pick up on someone dissing her from their facial expressions at fifty paces.

Absolutely not. I courtesy to no one!

Hectate had it spot on.

Don't think it'll ever be an issue as if I was offered the chance to meet the queen I'd refuse. I have no desire to meet her - She's no one special in my eyes. If I was someone important and offered an OBE or CBE or whatever they are I'd refuse that too.

well I had this situation. I cannot say I "met" the queen as in had a meaningful conversation or something but she did sweep along past. I thought about it and I decided not to curtsey but not to make an ostentatious show of it.I thought (really I don't know) she registered it but she has seen it all. She won't be fazed by some no-name not curtseying to her IMO. I don't see why you would need to not attend a function simply because you do not want to show deference to a royal. If I am invited and I want to go somewhere, I'll go and I won't kowtow to anyone but nevertheless I do like her.

You have to decide for yourself. Really why do something simply because you are told to or it is "etiquette"? What is etiquette after all other than a man-made collection of rules someone else has decided you must or must not do for reasons of their own. I do think it is important to treat everyone from a beggar to a multi-millionaire with kindness and respect though. Beyond that, I think you need to think for yourself. If someone makes a conscious decision that to bow or curtesy is right for them because to , that is ok with me too. If it were in a smaller and say televised setting where it would be visible to a lot of people that I had caused a public offront, I think it would be perhaps an unkind thing to make a point of it. Doubt I will ever be in a situation like that though.

I met the Queen Mum and didn't curtsey. It didn't go down well!

No absolutely not and certainly never to the queen and phillip. Rude, disrespectful people.

Hectate pretty much said it for me.

it didn't go down well with whom castles?

castles, do tell us more!

I met the Queen ,we were lined up and everyone curtseyed, so I did too.
But when DH and I met the Duke of Edinburgh we shook hands with him, were we supposed to bow to him ?

I wouldn't curtsey, but I'm the clumsiest oaf on the planet so would knock the Queen and everyone else in the place over. But I would bow my head - it isn't a matter of thinking she as a person is better than me but of showing respect for the position of head of state.

you don't have to sink low to the ground, probably most people could curtsey without any difficulty. If you just place one foot behind your standing leg and dip a bit, that would be enough as a curtsey

I was standing in the queue for the loo at my brother's school at the time. All the other ladies started bobbing up and down which I thought was strange and then there was this tiny old lady standing in front of me glaring and looking expectantly at me. It wasn't willfully a lack of deference on my part, although I knew she was at the school because it was Founder's Day and she was visiting. It was more a cross between dopey teenager-dom and not expecting to run into the Queen Mum outside the loos! I still didn't curtsey when I realised who it was though