george charlotte curtsy bow© Photo: Getty Images

This is when Prince George and Princess Charlotte are expected to start bowing and curtsying to the Queen

The little royals are growing up fast!

July 27, 2018

Royal fans are used to seeing Prince William and Kate, among other royals, bow and curtsy to the Queen at public outings – and it seems it won't be long before their little ones follow suit. According to historian Marlene Eilers Koenig, royal children start the tradition from a young age. She told HELLO!: "Certainly by age five. The only person they will be curtsy or bow to is the sovereign. A royal highness does not curtsy to another royal highness. Yes, there are articles that state this, but it is not true."

Watch Meghan curtsy to the Queen for the first time in public:

Marlene, blogger of Royal Musings, explained: "Curtseying and bowing is etiquette, nothing to do with precedence. You bow or curtsy the first time you see the sovereign and then again when you leave. At Christmas at church, we saw the Cambridges and Prince Harry and Meghan curtsy and bow when the Queen arrived and left. Other royals including Charles did not because they had come from Sandringham and had already seen the Queen."

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Princess Charlotte curtsied during last summer's royal tour of Poland

Royal children have always shown respect to their elders. One particularly sweet moment that was caught on camera was when Princess Eugenie, then seven, curtsied to the Queen Mother at Scrabster Harbour after disembarking from the Royal Yacht Britannia. Eugenie dipped into a little curtsy as she greeted her great-grandmother, while her older sister Princess Beatrice and their dad Prince Andrew watched from behind.

© Photo: Getty Images

Princess Eugenie pictured curtsying to the Queen Mother in 1997

Prince George just celebrated his fifth birthday last week, and while royal watchers have not witnessed him bow in public, it's likely that the future King has done so in private, when seeing his great-grandmother.

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Princess Charlotte, meanwhile, is three and given her impeccable manners, she may have already started practising how to curtsy for her Gan-Gan. Last summer, when the Cambridges left Poland on their royal tour, Charlotte gave a mini curtsy to the diplomats who had gathered to bid them farewell. The little girl adorably bobbed into a sweet curtsy after she was prompted by her mum Kate.

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