Now on sale in Charles’s shop: Guide to meeting Her Majesty!
WITH a lifetime of royal service under his belt, it’s advice the Prince of Wales surely wouldn’t need himself.
But for anyone preparing to rub shoulders with the royals – or merely wanting to brush up on good manners – Charles’ Highgrove website is selling just the thing.
An £8.99 book, entitled Her Ladyship’s Guide to Greeting the Queen: A Guide To Modern Etiquette, instructs readers on everything from what to say on meeting the monarch to the most polite way to breastfeed in public.
It acknowledges that many dismiss etiquette as ‘old-fashioned at best and absurd as worst’ but argues that it still comes into its own at work or social functions, as well as for day-to-day manners.
The book says: ‘The Royal Family… are probably more carefully drilled in etiquette than anyone else in Britain today.’
But it says some of the ‘younger element’ – possibly princes William and Harry – appear to be ‘pushing back the boundaries between “them” and “us”’. The author, referred to as Her Ladyship, says: ‘Her Ladyship believes that many of Her Majesty’s subjects could learn a lesson in basic manners from this behaviour.’
When it comes to meeting members of the royal family, the book advises a man should bow from the neck rather than the waist while a woman should bob a slight curtsey.
It is considered extremely ‘ bad form’ to offer to shake hands, the approach should be made by the ‘royal personage’. And the guide also tackles everyday matters, advising breastfeeding in public is to be done discreetly, mobile phones should never be left on the table and, of course, that brown shoes are only to be worn in the country.
A spokesman for Clarence House said: ‘Profits from the sale of all products in the Highgrove shop are donated to The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation; a grantmaking charity which supports a wide range of causes and projects.’