Social Etiquette – Let’s Make Sure That It’s Here to Stay!

Your Two Chums are all about “etiquette” (just another word for social rules or boundaries) and feel badly that this word conjures up a horrible feeling in a lot of people.  A feeling of, “what on earth do we need that for?”, or “I don’t know anything about the proper etiquette so let’s get rid of having to use it.”

What a lovely feeling it is to sit down at a dinner table and know exactly how to use the cutlery that is in front of us!   We have been thinking about this a lot lately as, with the engagement of Meghan Markle to Prince Harry, a lot is being said about all that she has to learn in order to feel comfortable with the situations she finds herself in.  In the case of table manners, they are slightly different in the UK and the USA so Ms. Markle has to re-learn, if you like, what she already knows.  She needs to become so familiar with it that it is just second nature to her.

She has to learn how to wave, she has to learn how to curtsy and who she has to curtsy to!  Apparently, she is supposed to curtsy to all Royals who are born Royal which would include Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice who are Prince Andrew’s children.  That changes if Harry is with her.  If Harry is with her, her status is elevated and then those two Princesses have to curtsy to her!

Certainly, as was seen on Christmas Day when the Royals went to the church service together (never before has a merely engaged person been invited!), Ms. Markle, and everyone else for that matter, is expected to curtsy to the Queen (the gentlemen bow) and she did it with humility, obviously wanting to do the right thing.  Her nervousness could be seen a little tiny bit but, on the other hand, who would not be nervous in that position?  It shows that she is taking this all rather seriously and really wanting to uphold the standard.  We think, in fact, that she has to curtsy to Catherine Middleton if Harry is not with her.

According to Zarife Hardy, the Founder of The Australian School of Etiquette,

“She will be getting the same advisers that Harry has and I believe that the gentleman that trained Duchess Catherine will be training her on royal protocol, politics and presentation skills.”

“She’ll be groomed on business decisions, handling the media and obviously for the royal family now, there’s a high-level of training and learning just about security. And she’ll also learn a lot about public speaking, what to do at state banquets and functions. Ultimately Harry, her husband-to-be, will be her biggest mentor!”

SO, a lot to learn for Ms. Markle!

So, “are these things really important?”, you might ask.  We feel they are, not only for Royals but for everyone!  Isn’t it a wonderful feeling to live UP to a standard?  Isn’t it wonderful to always want to “go up higher”?  Now, we certainly do not mean it in a “haughty” way.  In fact, the higher one goes up, the more humility one gains!  Funny how that works but it is true.

How does everyone feel about this word “etiquette”?  Let us know.  We are interested.

At the core of all good etiquette is love!   What could be better?