From Bizarre Eating Restrictions To Odd Dressing Traditions - 16 Strange Royal Family Rules
Becoming a member of British royalty may have privileges, but it also has a number of impediments that to a commoner might seem strange. It's no secret that the British royal family has numerous rules in their daily lives that need to be followed by every royal. Rules of the royal family keep updating over the centuries, but some remain to this day, each with its own meaning. Most of the time, prohibitions are aimed at the safety and well-being of the nobility, but there are some rules that are followed only by tradition.
Among the many royal families in the world, British royalty is one of the most popular and, consequently, the one that most arouses public curiosity. With the death of Queen Elizabeth II, at the age of 96, last month, we recall below some traditions considered "strange" and antiquated that the UK monarchy continues to follow.
1. Mandatory to wear hats
According to royal protocol, women must wear hats on royal occasions, a tradition that began in the 1950s, however, it's unofficially accepted that hats can be foregone for more casual events. At that time, it was considered inappropriate for royal and upper-class women to flaunt their hair in public, according to etiquette experts. These days, however, the younger generation of royals goes without a hat when attending unofficial occasions, but Queen Elizabeth never forgot to wear it as she was rarely seen in public without a colourful sun hat to match her skirt suits.
2. Bridal bouquet
It is the wedding tradition is for royal brides to add a sprig of myrtle in the bridal bouquets they carry down the aisle. This tradition dates back to Queen Victoria's time when the monarch's daughter, Princess Victoria, carried it among her bridal flowers which symbolise love, good luck, and prosperity in 1858. Since then, royal brides, from Queen Elizabeth II to Princess Diana and Meghan Markle, have also carried the plant on their wedding days.
3. Tiara's time
Usually, after 5 pm, royal women are expected to wear their diamond-encrusted tiaras as they attend major events like state dinners and white tie events. Also on the wedding day, the bride can wear the tiara in the morning as any?royal wedding usually starts at 11 am. In recent years, Kate has been pictured wearing a tiara from the Queen's collection during state visits or at formal receptions held at Buckingham Palace.
4. Can not travel together
In order to protect royal lineage, two Royals who are direct heirs to the throne, cannot travel together without special permission from the queen. Queen Elizabeth II had been allowing Prince William to travel with her three children so they could enjoy more family time. However, Prince George who is currently eight years old will have to start travelling separately from his father after turning 12.
5. No seafood outside the home
Royals avoid eating seafood outside their homes or while travelling abroad to always remain in good health and to prevent themselves to get allergic reactions or potential food poisoning from poorly prepared or raw shellfish such as shrimp, oysters, crab, lobster, scallops, and crayfish.
6. When the queen or king finishes eating, so does everyone else
After the queen or king takes their last bite, everyone needs to stop eating. This goes back to Queen Victoria, who ruled from 1837-1901. In short, the protocol at the time said that when the queen/king had finished eating, all of the guests' dishes should be removed for the next course ¨C even if they hadn't finished.
7. Chin up?
According to etiquette experts, royal women are instructed to keep their chins parallel to the floor at all times, particularly when entering rooms or going downstairs except the first two and last two steps. This chin position parallels the floor and square of the shoulders not only ensuring good posture but also helping to indicate that real women are paying attention and interested in what is going on around them. In royalty, too high a chin could give the appearance of being too haughty, while keeping it too low is said to indicate a lack of confidence. While getting down from stairs with this position is risky too which is why often the male royals walk a step or two slightly in front of the female royal, so he can lend support if she trips.
8. Mandatory to take special army courses
When Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle joined the Royal family they were prepared for any situation and they both had to take two-day special British army courses at the British Army's SAS headquarters as part of training to join the royal family, to prepare for the event of a potential personal security crisis or hostages. Did you know that during the training Meghan would have been the subject of a staged kidnapping by a terrorist and was taken to a different location and then saved by police officers with fake weapons? During the simulated exercise, she was taught to develop a relationship with the enemy and also instructed on how to drive a car while in pursuit.
9. Roman Catholic royal cannot become the monarch
The monarchy's relationship with Catholicism has been a delicate one for centuries. For over 300 years, starting in 1701, members of the royal family were not permitted to marry Roman Catholics if they wanted to sit on the throne. This prohibition led to many disruptions in the line of succession and validities of marriage, such as that of King George IV to the Catholic Maria Fitzherbert, which wasn¡¯t recognised.
However, a law passed in 2013, which took effect in 2015, finally allowed royals to marry Catholics if they wanted to. However, getting married is all they can do. As the King or Queen of England is also the head of the English Church, future monarchs cannot yet convert to Catholicism if they want to rule means it is still impossible for a Roman Catholic to ascend to the throne.
10. Wearing shorts
In the royal family, boys wear tailored shorts until the age of eight, when they can transition to full pants and this transition is actually a result of a particular dress code that young British princes have followed for centuries. Royals consider the display of royal knees to be a tradition that dates back to the 16th century. This transition has come to be known as ¡°breeching¡±, which in the Victorian era would signify a ¡°boy¡¯s step towards manhood.¡± Nowadays, wearing shorts until the age of pants is considered a matter of class. During a 2017 interview, Prince Harry jokingly said that the matching outfits he and his brother Prince William wore were "bizarre".
11. Presents the Royal Family gets
The royal family must accept any and all gifts they have received from their well-wishers around the world, no matter how strange it may be, but that doesn't mean they can keep them if they will be expected to do something in return. In fact, it is the monarch who decides who gets what. There is a whole protocol created to illustrate the process of receiving gifts, among the rules, it is observed that royalty can only accept gifts if they do not put the family in obligation with the sender. Royal family members must be careful to think about the reason for the gift, but they also have to balance that with any offence which might be caused if they decline it.
12. Royals Don't Eat Garlic Or Onions
According to various reports, the royal family avoids eating garlic or onions at royal functions because they are always meeting and talking with people, and want to make sure their breath doesn't smell bad also, the queen did not like spicy vegetables. Camilla Parker Bowles appeared on MasterChef Australia and was asked directly what they can't eat. "I hate to say this, but garlic," Parker Bowles confirmed. "Garlic is a no-no."? The royal also tries to avoid onions but they are used sparingly in a meal sometime. A former royal chef, Darren McGrady, who worked at Buckingham Palace for over 15 years confirmed this. Per Newsweek, McGrady revealed to Recipes Plus that cooks "can never serve anything with garlic or too many onions." reported Mashed.
13. Holding hands
Since Queen the UK's longest-serving monarch passed away the royal family has undertaken a series of public appearances, greeting well-wishers and meeting mourners both queen's grandchildren and their respective wives met crowds at Windsor and Sandringham and most of the people notice the difference in their body language. While Harry and Meghan walked hand in hand and were seen leaning on each other for support, Kate and Wills maintained their distance and walked apart as they greeted the crowds. Don't worry there is nothing serious between their relationship but they have followed professionalism and royal protocol under which the future King and Queen Consort are meant to refrain from public displays of affection.?
14. Selfies are not allowed
Selfies are not allowed with the royals because tradition dictates not turning your back on them. Greg Agnew an investor in companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook, and a royal fan who attended the Queen's Buckingham Palace garden party in May 2017, told INSIDER that attendees weren't allowed to take selfies with the royals because it would be seen as disrespectful. "The one thing they talked about a lot was no selfies, and the reason was that they didn't want people turning their backs to the royal family and the queen. And that was very important to them," Agnew explained.
"They had people who would walk around and pre-choose who was to have a conversation, and those people that had been selected had been positioned strategically every hundred metres or so, and the members of the royal family would go along and talk to one group of people and move to the next," he added.
15. Royals are not allowed to vote
There is no law that prohibits British monarchs from voting in elections, even from running for them, but it is traditionally considered unconstitutional for them to do so. According to the royal website, by convention, the Monarch does not vote or stand for election, however, they do have important ceremonial and formal roles in relation to the government of the UK. All the royals are expected to be completely neutral on political issues. Other royals also do not vote in the elections. Royals must also not express political opinions in the media or in public to maintain this sense of neutrality.
16. Cannot travel without a black dress in their luggage
In 1952, Elizabeth and Prince Philip travelled to Africa and were shocked by the death of her father, King George VI. On that occasion, she was without black clothing and had to wait on the plane for one to be delivered, so that she didn¡¯t arrive in the country wearing unsuitable clothing. Since then, it has been established that every member of the royal family must have a black dress during any trip.
