to ask should people still be bowing/curtseying to royalty

[bringincrazyback]

...in this day and age?

And if so, why?

(Usual disclaimers apply: long-standing member, not a journo, no Daily Fail affiliations. Question inspired by something that's come up in a book I'm reading; I'm curious to know what others think. Personally I think it's an obsequious practice that should have died out decades ago.)

We would also prefer to be Citizens of UK&NI rather than Subjects of the monarch.
Then we revise House of Lords and call them something else like Senator to distinguish them from MPs

Of course they should. It’s a matter of respect if you’re not scum.

@TemptedToSleepInTheShed

Of course they should. It’s a matter of respect if you’re not scum.

Gr8 b8 m8.

It's a ridiculous idea in this day and age.

I am neither pro nor anti the monarchy, but I find curtseying and bowing utterly ridiculous behaviour. I wouldn't do it at all.

let's bring it back for all, as everyday greeting, then it takes any deference out of it.
i'd much prefer a no touch greeting.

I'd love it if everyone did it to each other, but only if we could choose whether to bow or curtsey. I'd love to greet people with a low bow.

let's start it now.
they used to say, in the olden days, pre-covid, that if 2 people stood on a corner in covent garden with a bunch of bananas on their head, and if there happened to be a couple of japanese teenage tourists around, it would spread around the world as the latest thing in no time at all.
let's see how long it takes to build up a critical mass of everyday curtseyers/bowers.

We used to have to do this at primary school too. Every morning the teacher would say "Good morning boys and girls" and we were supposed to say good morning back and curtsy and the boys had to salute.

We'd say good morning but no curtseying or saluting.

...the younger royals can’t have it both ways. It’s all very well the Duchess of Cambridge wearing high street labels and being photographed pushing her own trolley around Waitrose, but her husband can’t expect us to take him seriously as a kind of everyman figure while simultaneously entertaining genuflections. If they want to carry on bowing and scraping within their own family – both Cambridges have been photographed greeting the Queen in this manner, and Meghan Markle curtseyed at her own wedding – then they’re very welcome, just as we’re all welcome to our own eccentric family traditions. But please, leave the rest of us out of it. The Guardian

Mine was also an organisation that was keen on the royals - it was a police force. Princess Anne was lovely though - although she paid more attention to the horses than the humans!

God, no. I'm not going to grovel to people who have done nothing to deserve such adulation except to be born/married into the right family. And if they don't like it, I'm sure their unearned wealth and privilege will comfort them.

Will curtsying become the new mumsnet scarf?

I can't even put into words how absolutely impossible it is that I would ever even consider bowing or curtseying to any royal. The idea of it fills me with unexplanable and irrational rage, and seeing others do it makes me cringe so badly.

It really is silly, isn’t it…

If we all hatched out of eggs and began our existence as a species today, do you think we’d come up with something as ridiculous as curtsying to other humans?

When and why did the mass curtseying amongst women die out after the Recency period? Or, to go a bit Cunk on Britain on it: when Jane Austen died, so did curtseying. Why is that?

(And why am I awake so bloody early?)

Absolutely not, respect is earned and they have done nothing to earn mine apart from the Queen.

Could the nhs cope with the knee injuries if curtsying came back into fashion?

@Worldgonecrazy

Could the nhs cope with the knee injuries if curtsying came back into fashion?

Oh, good point. My days as one of the Bennet sisters would have been marred by the most terrible grinding noises coming from under my petticoats. I'd be forever assuring my dear companions that it was nothing more sinister than bursitis, not some terrible arse-related faux pas.

I’d curtsey for the Queen but I doubt I’d bother with anybody else

This.
Actually I love the RF, well the premise of it, but curtseying/bowing seems weird in this day and age.

Of course they should. It’s a matter of respect if you’re not scum.

How does one bow or curtsy with ones head up ones arse?

Respect?

My respect for the royal family has recently plummeted as rapidly as a Black Friday share index, given the behaviour of Andrew Windsor and the family's own protectionist behaviour around that. Tax-payers' money via the monarch to pay his legal fees is just the tip of the iceberg with that one.

It's a tradition.

I don't understand why everyone is so upset about this but happily tolerate footballers 'taking a knee'

@mustlovegin

It's a tradition.

I don't understand why everyone is so upset about this but happily tolerate footballers 'taking a knee'

Just because something is traditional doesn’t mean we should keep on doing it. Plenty of traditions are totally outdated in modern society.

Footballers choosing to take the knee in opposition to racism has absolutely no relevance to curtsying to the queen.

For all of those who dislike the RF and refuse to curtsy, don't worry, it's unlikely you will ever meet the Queen so you will not be put in that position.