You must believe, just like many others, that royal life is all about living in luxurious castles, having a lavish lifestyle, and this belief is all because of the Disney movies. However, the reality of royal life is not as whimsical as you think and all the Windsor, especially the children, have to follow a strict and structured routine and have to abide by specific protocols and pomp.
Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, and little Archie and all the royal children have to follow royal etiquettes and traditions that Prince William and Prince Harry once followed and their ancestors rigidly. So we have broken down some dos and don’ts for royal children.
1. Girls must only wear dresses:
Like boys, the little girls also have some wardrobe restrictions, and the young girls are required to wear only dresses in public until the age of 8. So you will find princess Charlotte always dressed in smocked dresses with peter pan collars whenever she is in public with her parents, just like the Queen’s daughter Princess Anne.
The children’s wear expert Rachael Riley told Telegraphit that we are doing the same design for children’s dresses for the past 18 years and are trying to keep it classic and timeless. However, she also added that Princess Charlotte does wear shorts but in private.
2. They cannot eat processed food:
The royal children do not have canned or processed food, and why would they if all of them have their personal chefs. When Princess Middleton was pregnant with Prince George, the organic baby food brand Plum gifted them a crate of processed food. Darren McGrady, the Queen’s former chef, told Today that the Queen accepted the gift of processed food, but it was never meant to be consumed. The royal kids do not need them because the queen has 20 personal chefs at her disposal.
Do you know Darren McGrady is the one who prepared the first meals of Prince Williams and Prince Harry, which were pureed steamed apples and pears?
3. All the Queen Elizabeth II Family members must be baptized:
Baptisms were a common practice in England in the early ’80s, and the Church of England christened one in three children, but this practice has declined in the 21st century. However, the royal family still follows the rule of baptism religiously, and the Church of England christens all the newborn royal babies. You might even remember the Meghan Markle baptism ceremony, 2018, overseen by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and it featured Holy water from the Jordan.
The tradition of baptism is still alive in the royal family because Queen Elizabeth II is the head of the church, and she took an oath to maintain and preserve this tradition.
4. They must wear Honiton christening gown for the baptism ceremony:
All the royal children wear the Honiton christening gown for their baptism ceremony. This tradition was started when Queen Victoria commissioned this dress for her firstborn child, daughter Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa, for her baptism ceremony in 1841 at the Buckingham Palace. The gown was made of white silk and a handmade lace overlay. Janet Sutherland made the lace, a miner’s daughter from Falkirk, Scotland, and the overall design of the gown was inspired by the Queen Victoria wedding dress.
The latest of the clan who wore the gown was Archie, but he wore the replica because the original was too fragile to wear. The replica is designed but Angela Kelly, the Queen Elizabeth personal wardrobe advisor.
5. The royal children must drop a curtsy to the Queen:
The royals have strict rules and protocols that everyone from royals to commoners must follow whenever they have to meet the royals. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for the royals they should be given their due respect.
The royal family children are also expected to follow this protocol whenever they meet a monarch. The Queen Elizabeth grandchildren still need to “bow or curtsy” upon the first time seeing the Queen. The royal children are taught how to address the monarch based on their ranks or proper titles. Have a look at the next one. The royal children do not call the Queen Grandma. Find out why!
6. The royal children do not call the Queen Grandma:
Queen Elizabeth is a grandmother of Prince William, Prince Harry, Princess Beatrice, and Princess Eugenie. She is also the great-grandmother of Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louise, and Archie Harrison. But all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren cannot call her grandma. But do not worry; they are not calling her Queen of Your Royal Highness. They simply call her granny.
But do you know that prince Williams called her Gary? When William was growing up, he could not say granny, and he went with Gary. Prince George calls the Queen “Gan-Gan,” which the royals use for generation for the great grandmother.
7. Royal children must have passports:
If you think that the royals do not need a passport as they are known to everyone, you are wrong. All the royals except Queen have passports, and even the little children also have baby passports. The royal babies are issued with a passport as soon as they are born because they have to be ready for international travel.
As said, the only member of the royal family who is exempted from having a passport s the Queen. The reason behind it is that the British passport is issued in Her Majesty’s name, which makes it unnecessary for the Queen to possess a passport.
8. Royal children need a driving license:
All the royal children and other royal family members need to have a driving license. Prince William and Prince Harry already have theirs, and Prince George will have to take and pass his driving test. In 2019, Prince Philips voluntarily surrendered his driving license after a car crash and left two women injured.
The member of the royal family who does not need a driving license is Queen. In WWII, she served in ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Services) and had a license, but when in 1952 she became monarch, she no longer needs a driving license. This rule will be applied to Prince William too when he becomes a King.
9. All the royal children must attend Royal engagements:
All the royal family’s children are supposed to attend all the major royal events, although they are not full-time royal workers yet. However, they still have to attend the engagements, weddings, christening, other public events, and the Queen’s birthday ceremony, Trooping the colors.
Trooping the colors is a ceremony officially celebrating the birthday of a Sovereign. Trooping the color ceremony is when the troops learn their regiment’s flag colors, and it was first held in 1748. Queen Elizabeth II’s actual birthday is on April 21, but she celebrates it in June with Trooping the color ceremony where she inspects her personal troop, Household Division.
10. They have to undergo the etiquettes training:
Have you ever wondered how come the royal children appeared so well-behaved in any public event? This is because they undergo etiquette training along with their formal education at private school with other plebs. The etiquette expert, Myka Meier of Beaumont Etiquette, told People that the etiquette training of the royal children starts “as soon as they are old enough to sit at a table.”
The training includes having formal meals, going to formal events, maintaining the voice level, dressing appropriately, walking, wave, sit, accepting gifts graciously, and how to bow or curtsy. They also learn wedding-specific behaviors and protocols.
11. The royal kiddos have to join their parents at the royal tour:
There is no age limit for the royal children to join their parents on a royal tour, either national or international. If the parents want to take them, they can. It is the reason behind issuing the passport to the royal children as soon as they are born.
Archie joined his parents on the South Africa tour when he was just four months old. Prince Charlotte went to Canada with her parent when she was sixteen months old, and one-year-old Prince George in 2014 joined his parents on the royal tour to Australia and New Zealand. Prince Louise is yet to travel with his parent on an official overseas visit.
12. Two heirs cannot share a plane or a car:
In order to preserve the line of succession, two heirs cannot travel together by plane or car unless permission is granted by the Queen. It is a sensible rule and followed so that if some unfortunate incident happens like a plane crash or car accident and take out the heirs who are in direct line to the throne.
Currently, the Cambridge family is traveling together, but as soon as Prince George turns 12, he and his father, Prince William, will travel separately. So he for sure will miss his mother, father, sister, and brother’s company while going on a family vacation.
13. The Windsor Wave:
The royal adults do the royal wave, and it is one of the elegant traditions of the royals to greet the crowd, but the royal children learn it. Queen Elizabeth’s unique wave always intrigues her fans. Her wave has slow movement, as opposed to a frantic movement of wrists, and is controlled.
Princess Charlotte’s little “Windsor wave” is famous and adorable, and it is a behavior that she has learned from her mother and father. However, once she becomes a full-time worker of the royal family, she has to greet the public with the royal wave, and so do her brothers.
14. Royal children have to learn a second language:
It is not an official rule that the Windsors will learn a second language, but the trend shows that most of the royals can speak a foreign language. For example, Queen Elizabeth can fluently speak French, and all her children and her grandson Prince William can speak French. In 2011, Prince William was seen conversing in French while in Quebec. Prince William also knows a little of Swahili and Welsh.
Prince Harry also knows a foreign language, and keeping the trend alive, the little Prince George and Princess Charlotte have started learning Spanish, already at a young age. No doubt they will become fluent very soon.
15. Boys must only wear shorts:
There are some wardrobe restrictions on both royal adults and royal children. One of the strangest rules is the boys can only wear shorts, and once they turn eight, they are allowed to wear trousers. It is the reason behind Prince George being photographed in shorts only. According to royal etiquette, boys younger than eight years old can wear trousers only at a wedding or engagement ceremony.
The etiquette expert William Hanson explained to the Harper’s Bazaar that this rule is linked to the British silent class marker that shorts represent the high station in society. At the same time, the trousers for young boys are too middle-class.
16. The sibling is encouraged to wear matching dresses:
It is not a hard and fast rule that the royal sibling must wear matching dresses in public, but in the back days, the prince and princesses tend to wear matching dresses like wearing the same sweater, or matching only the colors, etc.
Most royal family photos show that many princes and princesses used matching dresses, and the parents paid particular attention to this rule. Even the Queen Elizabeth children wore matching dresses. You have also seen pictures of Prince George and Princess Charlotte wearing similar avatars. They wore Navy blue and red sweaters on one occasion, and their matching outfits were very cute.
17. The outdoor playtime is a must:
The royal children have to play outdoor no matter if it is raining or is sunny. As the Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Kate emphasizes that the children should play outside, so we are not surprised that her kids play outside. As a result, the Cambridge Children every day spend some time outdoor and plays different games.
Louise Heren, Author of “Nanny in a Book,” wrote that the kids would go out even if it is pouring. It is because the royal children play outdoor to have loads of fresh air, lots of bike rides, play with their dogs, and do some gardening.
18. The royal family avoids shellfish:
The Queen and other royal family members avoid eating shellfish because it is the most common food that causes food poisoning. The former royal butler Grant Harold told the Women and Home magazine that royals avoid eating the shellfish, especially when they are on an official tour or a public duty. He also added that we would never want a Windsor having food poisoning, especially overseas.
This rule is applied to the royal children, but luckily, the kids do not start eating their solid meal with fish, so we are sure the kids won’t mind this rule, at least for some time.
19. The royal children must go to school:
Queen Elizabeth and all other royals before her had their education from private tutors, but Prince Charles was sent to a proper school, and all the royals after him are going to the private school to attain education.
The Royal children start their nursery schooling at the age of two and half years, and currently, Prince George and Princess Charlotte are going to the school Tomas’s Battersea. The heirs to the throne, along with formal education, receive some special extracurricular instructions too. Their parents Prince William and Princess Middleton are graduated from St Andrews University. Prince Charles was the first royal to get a University degree.
20. There is no set rule for which school they would go to:
Queen Elizabeth bent the royal traditions and sent her son Prince Charles to the proper school for education. Before that, all the royals were getting an education at home from private tutors. There is no strict rule for which school the royal kids will go to. The decision is wholly in the hands of the parents, and they sent their kids to the school which they consider is best for them.
Prince Charles went to the alma mater while he sent Prince William and Prince Harry to the Eton College, and we are hoping that Prince William is also sending his kids to the school that h thinks is better for them.
21. All the royals must remain impartial:
All the royal family members have to stay impartial and should not take the side of any political party. The rule of impartiality of the royals is applied to the cultural aspects too. The royals are not allowed to cast a vote, and they are also not permitted t run office. The royal family is not involved in politics because they believe that they should stay away from the political fray if they want to survive.
The royal kids are also supposed to be impartial. However, in 2019, Prince George was photographed in an England Lioness Jersey, and it steered disturbance in the whole media. The critics said that he could not support one team over another.
22. The Royal kids should not play Monopoly:
You will not find the Cambridge siblings playing board games on their family game night because Queen Elizabeth II has banned all the board games in Buckingham Palace. So this royal rule has been set a few decades ago and has no history of being followed for generations. Prince Andrew said that Queen Elizabeth II banned Monopoly because “the things get highly competitive and the family becomes too vicious.”
We assume the Queen Elizabeth II kids might have a competitive round of Monopoly that ended up in tears and tantrums. Hence, she banned the game from avoiding this situation in the future.
23. The Royal kids serve in bridal parties:
It is a tradition in England that the royal bride is accompanied by the bridesmaids. The bridesmaids are usually girls aged 10 to 12, but boys are also encouraged to serve as page boys. The royal family’s youngest members perform the duty of page boys and flower girls at the royal weddings.
In 2018, Prince George and Princess Charlotte served at the bridal party of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding and Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank’s wedding. Queen Elizabeth II had eight bridesmaids, and Princess Diana had five bridesmaids, all ages between 5 and 17. On this picture, we can see Prince George at Pippa Middleton’s wedding.
24. The royal kids must listen to their nanny:
The royal parents have a lot of duties to perform, and they also go on royal visits overseas and have to keep up with the public engagements, so it is not possible for them to take care of their kids all the time. So for that reason, nannies are responsible for the royal kid’s upbringing.
The long-term nanny of Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louise is Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, from the prestigious Norland collage Bath, England. She is often spotted with the royal siblings talking them for the walk to London’s Hyde Park or helping them in other tasks.
25. They have to follow the security measures strictly:
The royals take extreme steps to ensure that all the Windsors, especially the royal kids, are safe. In 2010, The Mirror said that each royal has five armed guards with them all the time. The overseas visits take more time to plan to ensure that the royals will be safe on their visit.
The royal kids are supposed to follow the security measures to avoid any mishap strictly. However, besides all the extensive security, in 2017, Prince George school Thomas’s Battersea was the target of a plotted attack. It is evident that the target of the attack was Prince George.
26. There must be a public announcement of the birth of a royal child:
The first bizarre rule for Windsor’s is implemented the day they are born. According to the royal tradition, the birth of a royal child must be announced to the public. A signed public notice is displayed on the gates of Buckingham Palace. The content of the notice includes the royal baby gender and the time of delivery.
We call this rule bizarre not because of the public announcement; it has to be announced because he or she is not an ordinary baby but a royal one who might end up as a king or queen one day. But the displaying of an announcement on the palace gates is bizarre in Today’s time of the internet and social media.
27. The royal kids can accept gifts:
The royal kids are most of the time center of attention, and they receive an immense amount of gifts. The royal tradition allows them to accept the gifts graciously given to them by the diplomats, fans, and well-wishers each year. in 2014; When Prince George was just 18 months old, he received 774 gifts throughout the year and is seven times more than the Queen.
There is a fundamental principle for accepting gifts by the royal family members because they cannot accept gifts related to hospitality services because it put the royal family member under the obligation to the donor.
28. But they cannot keep the gifts:
The royal kids can accept the gifts, but that does not mean that they can keep them too. According to the royal protocols, the Queen has the authority to decide which gift should be kept. Even if the royal children want to keep all the gifts, they cannot because the palace might be significant, but the number of gifts they receive each year will eventually overrun all the space.
According to the royal’s official website, the royals cannot accept a highly expensive gift from anyone. Those individuals that are not known to the royals personally, from them the royals can only accept consumable items like flowers and books or some small things that price is not more than £150 as a gift.
29. They have to learn proper posture:
The royals have to take proper care of their sitting and standing postures. The women in the royal family strictly have to follow the sitting etiquettes. The regal woman has to sit with her legs crossed at the knee; her legs and knee must be kept together, and crossing at the ankle is fine. Princess Middleton’s “Duchess Slant” is very popular.
The royal men must not stand with their hands in their pockets. The men are also prohibited from a slouch. All these posture etiquettes are applied to the royal children, too, and the parents correct them if they see the kids slumping.
30. They cannot wear black at daytime:
The royals wear the black color only on the mourning’s, and they also keep a black dress when they are traveling just in case they need it. But they do not wear black color in broad daylight. This rule applies to both the royal adults and the royal children.
We all had witnessed the only exception when Prince George was dressed up in a black military suit when he was performing duty as a page boy at his uncle’s wedding. Otherwise, you will always see the Cambridge siblings and Prince William and Prince Harry in soft pastel and blues or white.
31. The royals must carry a black outfit:
It is a royal tradition that the royals will only wear black while mourning. So whenever the royal adults or the royal children are traveling, they make sure that they have hands-on their black outfit so that if someone dies unexpectedly on tour.
This rule was instated after 1952 when Queen Elizabeth II was caught without a black dress. In 1952, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillips visited Kenya, where she received the news of her father’s death. Unfortunately, a black dress was not packed in monarch luggage by her staff, and she had to return to England in unsuitable clothing.
32. The male kids are expected to serve in the Military:
All the male members of the royal family are expected to serve in the Military when they grow up, but they have to consider this rule as kids. They have to decide which force they want to join because it is not just part of the Military, but they have to rise through the ranks of one of the military branches.
Prince Philips and Prince Charles both served in the Navy. However, Prince Williams chose Air Force while Prince Harry served in the army. We wonder which branch of Military Prince George and Prince Louise will decide in the coming years.
33. The royal kids must attend the Trooping the Color:
All the royal kids attend the Queen’s birthday and Trooping the color ceremony when they turn one year old. Prince George and Princess Charlotte are attending the ceremony for quite a few years now. Recently, Prince Louise also participated in the extravagant birthday celebrations of the Queen’s birthday for the first time.
Trooping the Color is a ceremony celebrated in June, where the British regiments and commonwealth armies march slowly with the colored flags so that the soldier their regiments flags. Other royals attending the ceremony are the Earl and countess of Wessex, Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, and Jack Brooksbank.
34. The royal kids have to be older enough to attend the Christmas services:
The royal kids cannot attend the Christmas services until they are a few years older. Prince George and princess charlotte still have to wait for several years to attend the Christmas services with their parents. Prince William was five years old when he first participated in the Christmas services, while Prince Harry was seven years old at his first appearance at the Christmas services.
There is no hard and fast set rule about which age the royal kids will attend the services. Maybe Prince William and Princesses Middleton are waiting for Charlotte to grow enough, and then George and Charlotte will attend the Christmas services together.
35. The royal kids eat separately at Christmas:
Christmas Eve is as essential for the royals as Christmas day is. According to some experts, the royals consider Christmas more important than the day. That is why all the royals have a special black tie Christmas Eve Dinner, where many guests are invited, and the entire guest makes sure they attend the dinner in their best attire.
The royal kids also join their parents on the Christmas Eve dinner at Sandringham, but they have their separate tables. All the adults eat in the main hall while the kids eat in the nursery, located on a separate floor. When the kids grow mature enough, they move from the nursery table to the main hall.
36. The royal kids do not open presents on Christmas Day:
The British Royals have German roots, and they were not always called Windsor. King George V changed the British Royal name to the English Windsor in a proclamation in 1917. Before that, the British royals were called Gotha and German Saxe – Coburg. King George V took this step to distance the British Royals from the Germans. Due to World War I, anti-German sentiments was growing in England, and a school bombing in the East End of London increased the height for Germans.
But the royals still follow their German heritage and do not open the Christmas gifts on Christmas day; they open them on Christmas Eve in the Red Room at tea time.
37. Only married women can wear tiaras:
We all think that all the royal ladies wear tiaras, be it married or unmarried, but it is not the case. According to the royal rules, the tiaras are only preserved for the married ladies. A British Royal lady wears her first tiara on her bridal day.
The reason behind this rule is to avoid social awkwardness at receptions. Making the headdress limited to only the married women makes it easy for the men to know if the girl is married or not So that they do not make any embarrassing advances. That means we will not see charlotte in Tiaras until she is married.
38. The royals are not called by their nicknames in public:
Just like the common people, the royals also have nicknames. But the royals do not like to call by their nicknames in public. According to the royal traditions and protocols, the royals must be called by their proper name. That is the reason Kate Middleton is now called Catherine.
Some of the British royals have very creative nicknames, such as Prince Philips calls Queen Elizabeth Cabbage. When Queen was little, she was called Tillabet, but as she grows her friends and family called her Lilibet. Princess Middleton’s nickname was Squeak when she was a student at St Andrew School. Prince George’s nickname is P.G; Princess Charlotte is Lottie, and Archie’s nicknames are Arch and Bubba.
39. The royal kids do not have a surname:
Per royal tradition, the royals do not have the last names, and they are known by the house they belong to. When a royal baby is born, he or she only has a first name in the documents. They get the name of the ruling family after some time, but that also depends on who is in power. For instance, when King George came in power, he changed the name of British royals to the Windsor.
When Queen Elizabeth came in power, she combined the Prince Philips name with her house and named her family the Mountbatten- Windsor. William and Harry took the name of Wales, and George and charlotte took the name of Cambridge.
40. All the royal children have to well behave in public:
Like all other children, the royal children do have meltdowns and throw tantrums but not in public. The royal children are expected to show a higher level of manners in public and on any royal function.
The etiquette expert Myka Meier said that the kids behave well in the royal function because they have practiced their behavior before the function. They know all about what to do when the function ends and what to expect. She also added that there are dozen royal aides and royal family members to assist the royal kiddos if the kids have any problem or confusion.
