Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask should people still be bowing/curtseying to royalty

258 replies

bringincrazyback · 17/08/2021 16:32

...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.)

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
FlorenceWintle · 21/08/2021 23:08

Yes!! I would love to meet someone that I could legitimately curtesy to. I find it rather fabulous that something so ancient and traditional still exists today.

I see it like the Ceremony of the Keys or the All Blacks doing the Hakka - no longer necessary in modern times but still rather special to maintain as part of a nation’s heritage.

SpindleWhorl · 21/08/2021 23:11

@FlorenceWintle

Yes!! I would love to meet someone that I could legitimately curtesy to. I find it rather fabulous that something so ancient and traditional still exists today.

I see it like the Ceremony of the Keys or the All Blacks doing the Hakka - no longer necessary in modern times but still rather special to maintain as part of a nation’s heritage.

Same Edna Everidge?
SpindleWhorl · 21/08/2021 23:12

Dame!!!

TheHuntingoftheSnark · 21/08/2021 23:16

@MauveMagnolia

And Andrew is pretty great as royals go. Went above and beyond to support our charity giving loads of time

I have met most of them and he is the best

Was this written by Prince Andrew?
MauveMagnolia · 21/08/2021 23:21

Was this written by Prince Andrew?

Have you met him?
He has given massive amounts of time to our charity with no publicity at all

SpindleWhorl · 21/08/2021 23:23

I know a naval NCO who has met him and says he's horrible, arrogant and officious. And clearly protected.

LimeRedBanana · 21/08/2021 23:27

@MauveMagnolia

Was this written by Prince Andrew?

Have you met him?
He has given massive amounts of time to our charity with no publicity at all

As long as he’s given lots of time to your particular charity, his questionable ‘relationships’ with under age girls don’t matter.
MauveMagnolia · 21/08/2021 23:31

As long as he’s given lots of time to your particular charity, his questionable ‘relationships’ with under age girls don’t matter.

I tend to follow the principle of English law. Innocent until proven guilty

phishy · 21/08/2021 23:45

@MauveMagnolia

Please don’t make me puke 🤮It all sounds a bit fantasist

What projects have you worked with him on?
How many times have you met him?

I have met him many times and he has always been great. The younger royals very flaky

No, but i know people who have met him at a charity and they described him as a condescending, sexist twat.

And i would believe them over you any day,p.

StoneofDestiny · 21/08/2021 23:56

And Andrew is pretty great as royals go. Went above and beyond to support our charity giving loads of time I have met most of them and he is the best

Name the charity please - this is not my experience.

Anon778833 · 21/08/2021 23:56

No

Anon778833 · 21/08/2021 23:58

@MauveMagnolia

And Andrew is pretty great as royals go. Went above and beyond to support our charity giving loads of time

I have met most of them and he is the best

Pretty great at being an entitled, abusive prick yeah.
Anon778833 · 21/08/2021 23:59

Apparently he drove straight through a gate costing £££££ because he couldn't be bothered to wait for it to open.

MrsFin · 21/08/2021 23:59

@MadMadMadamMim

Unless you going to ever be presented to the Queen or a member of the Royal Family I can't honestly imagine why you would give a shit.

I'm unlikely to ever meet her. Couldn't care less if people are expected to curtsey. It seems fair enough to me. She's the Queen.

I met Prince Richard at a formal occasion. I had to curtsy to him.

LiJo2015 · 22/08/2021 00:07

No. But I don't think we should have a royal family either.

NalPolishRemover · 22/08/2021 00:14

I've met Charles & Camilla & didn't curtsey. I shook hands.
I'm not British & they were in my country.

squishee · 22/08/2021 00:28

We could have a lying cheating avaricious venal politician as head of state

Er, I thought BoJo was head of state?

SeoultoSeoul · 22/08/2021 00:49

I'm used to being bowed to, it's an age thing in some parts of the world and I'm old!
In the UK I know one woman who has the title "Lady" and she insists that everyone refers to her as such and her staff bow and curtsy to her. She is the most appalling woman I've ever met.

LimeRedBanana · 22/08/2021 00:53

@squishee

We could have a lying cheating avaricious venal politician as head of state

Er, I thought BoJo was head of state?

He’s your Prime Minister. He’s not head of State.

That’s the Queen.

Changechangychange · 22/08/2021 02:00

@MrsFin initially I thought you meant Richard 3rd (some people were a bit weird about his skeleton after it was exhumed). Then I wondered if you meant Cliff Richard.

I googled, and discovered there is a current Prince Richard Duke of Gloucester. Who is a grandson, not of the queen, not of her father, not even of that one who abdicated, but of the one before that.

Surely nobody believes anybody that far from the throne deserves to be bowed and scraped to. Where does it end?

Changechangychange · 22/08/2021 02:08

@MauveMagnolia

Was this written by Prince Andrew?

Have you met him?
He has given massive amounts of time to our charity with no publicity at all

I don’t work in charity fundraising, but wouldn’t a bit of publicity be more use to you than having to entertain Prince Andrew for hours on end? What did he actually contribute to the mission, beyond getting you all to line up and curtsy to him?

If he spent the afternoon doing actual work that you would ordinarily have paid for, I will happily take it all back. Getting service users to line up and bow to him as well doesn’t count.

DinosaurDuvet · 22/08/2021 04:23

I cringed when I seen pictures of Charlotte bowing to the Queen; it just seems so wrong to me. I'd hate it & feel awkward if people were bowing to me

Mookie81 · 22/08/2021 06:10

[quote Roussette]@Mookie81

You are a very wise owl !!

And totally right![/quote]
Twit twoo! 🦉😘

Mookie81 · 22/08/2021 06:19

I don't know why people like her so much, just because she looks like a kindly granny? Hmm
Based on her behaviour over the years she isn't a nice person or a good mother.

2020newmum · 22/08/2021 08:31

My favourite curtsy is this photo of Fergie. She’s practically on the floor! Grin

to ask should people still be bowing/curtseying to royalty
Swipe left for the next trending thread