The royal family has to follow some truly
bonkers rules, but the most bizarre one concerns
when they're allowed to go to sleep.
If you thought specific bedtimes were reserved
for royal kids, you thought wrong.
A coach from the Australian School of Etiquette
outlined some of the more outrageous rules
the royal family has to follow for Harper's
BAZAAR Australia, including a rule that no
one is allowed to go to bed before the queen.
Considering that the queen reportedly goes
to bed around midnight, it's likely that this
rule is for the adults, and not royal children
like Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
Queen Elizabeth's former private secretary,
Sir William Heseltine, told The Telegraph
that this royal family custom isn't really
a hard and fast rule, but more of a tradition.
And Princess Diana apparently regularly ignored
this particular tradition.
"Those stories arose a long time ago, and
kept coming out again and again."
According to Heseltine,
"For Diana the long royal evenings were agony.
[...] There'd be an hour or so in the sitting
room of everyone sitting around making conversation,
and nobody felt it right to go to bed before
the Queen did.
And Diana was driven to such extremes that
she'd excuse herself and go to bed, which
was thought to be rather bad form, going to
bed before the Queen."
Bad form or not, we can't really blame Princess
Diana for wanting to get in her eight hours
a night.
After all, everyone needs their beauty sleep.
When the royals are allowed to sleep is far
from the only bananas rule that the family
has to follow.
For example, Christmas is a big deal with
the royals, but present opening isn't done
on Christmas morning like in most British
households.
According to an Australian School of Etiquette
coach, Christmas gifts must be opened on Christmas
Eve in the Red Drawing Room at Sandringham.
"My own family often gather round to watch
television, as they are at this moment."
Presents aside, when it comes to the festive
period, the royal family gets to work.
The coach revealed,
"Christmas is a full royal occasion for the
Queen and her family and has been celebrated
the same way for hundreds of years.
The Queen always spends Christmas at her winter
estate, Sandringham, and guests are expected
to follow a strict set of rules.
There is a choreographed arrival schedule
from junior to senior royal family members.
Guests bring their own food and china to dine
on.
Since Sandringham is considered to be technically
a court occasion, royal protocol is still
observed, with proper bowing and curtsying
and sticking to a strict dress code at all
hours of the day."
Basically, Christmas is no joke in the royal
household, and everyone has to bring their
A-game.
Everyone knows that tradition dictates that
women curtsy to royalty, and even royal family
members must follow this rule.
Royal ladies must always curtsy to someone
who is of a higher rank to them, which means
that Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle have
to curtsy every time they see their regal
grandmother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth.
While this might sound like an exhausting
tradition, it also might help to explain how
Middleton and Markle keep in such great shape.
After all, who needs to go to the gym when
you're constantly working those glutes?
It's also worth noting that, according to
royal protocol, no-one is allowed to walk
in front of the Queen or even next to her,
as turning one's back on the monarch is a
royal no-no.
Being a royal requires a lot of hard work.
Not all of the rules the royal family has
to follow are dictated by the Queen.
One particularly kooky rule can be blamed
on royals of the past.
Thanks to King Charles the Second, who ruled
in the 17th century, the Tower of London must
always have at least six ravens in it and
the royals are forbidden from freeing them.
According to an Australian School of Etiquette
coach, this was decreed after Charles almost
did away with the Tower's ravens and was issued
a dire warning by a courtier which said,
"If the Tower of London ravens are lost or
fly away, the Crown will fall and Britain
with it."
“But the king was warned if he did that,
the Tower would crumble, and the kingdom would
fall."
At least breaking the bedtime rule doesn't
come with such dire consequences.
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