Bowing and Curtseying


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Yes that is King Olav. That curtsey was most unladylike, I must say.

Sarah was also 6 or 7 months' pregnant with Princess Beatrice at the time.
I am mystified. She was pregnant and still managed a decent curtsey, much the same as you find with Sophie, Zara, Autumn,Beatrice and Eugenie, without showing her knickers or lack thereof.

Can't see what was unladylike so I'm guessing it's just "Sarah".
 
A curtsy with that skirt coming so high it simply does not look ladylike. Curtsies are made for ladies wearing long robes or for gracious ballerinas. The obvious exceptions aside, most ladies in contemporary fashion making a révérence simply do not look good. That is my personal opinion.

In my very personal opinion this does not look elegant at all and has everything to do with their contemporary fashion:

Princess Beatrice: http://media2.onsugar.com/files/201...937521.xxxlarge_2x/i/Who-Must-Curtsy-Whom.jpg

Princess Mathilde: http://static1.purepeople.com/artic...princesse-mathilde-de-belgique-au-637x0-2.jpg

In long it always looks good:

Princess Máxima: http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y249/fellrunner/royalscurtsy/maximacurtsies0001.jpg

Princess Caroline: http://www.noblesseetroyautes.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/rev7.jpg

Princess Beatrix: http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x32/anirac_86/beatrixthailand1962.jpg
 
Perhaps we could have some suggestions as to how curtsies could be less clumsy and unladylike during the day? Maybe crinolines or full-length gowns with leg-o-mtton sleeves will make a comeback for royal day-wear and we can all rest easy - unless of course an ankle is shown in which case one might fall off ones chair in shock!
 
Perhaps we could have some suggestions as to how curtsies could be less clumsy and unladylike during the day? Maybe crinolines or full-length gowns with leg-o-mtton sleeves will make a comeback for royal day-wear and we can all rest easy - unless of course an ankle is shown in which case one might fall off ones chair in shock!

I believe no one has fallen in shock at all. It is a personal opinon about making a révérence wearing short skirts. It forces ladies to make a gracious révérence but at the same time be aware for having your shopping basket open for photographers. Result: a clumsy and weird looking situation.

By the way, it is not at all required to make a deep fall to the earth. A minimal knick in combination with a little bow is equally effective and much more elegant: Sophia Loren towards Princess Magraret: http://cdn.thedailybeast.com/conten...ineimage.img.503.jpg/1340620668750.cached.jpg
 
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In my completely curtsey-ignorant mind, the trick is in the knees: if you see the knees, the curtsey will almost always look ungraceful, where the same curtsey could be very elegant if the knee-area is covered from sight :flowers:
 
Yes, you have formulated it the way I wanted to make the point. That picture of Queen Mathilde and the Empress.... I only see skinny legs everywhere. The attention is no longer on the gracious Queen but on her long stilts.

:)
 
:previous: Very nicely done. :flowers:

I have a little neice who is really into Princesses, Royal Weddings and everything princessy, pretty and girly. When she visits she checks to forums to see what they wear and she asked me how they managed to curtsey without landing on their tush. I came across a delightfully quaint, but right on the money, You Tube lesson on how to curtsey properly. I tried it with her for fun and surprise, surprise, surprise, neither of us fell on our tush!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etiMil0_4Jw
 
Hmmm nice demo but isn't her back foot supposed to be flat on the ground and not on the toe?

LaRae
 
Hmmm nice demo but isn't her back foot supposed to be flat on the ground and not on the toe?

LaRae

Not according to http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/f162/bowing-and-curtseying-4676-2.html#post1697062. I scrolled back two pages, and only Sophie's curtsey (she is next to Kate in a photo) has a discernible flat back foot. Everyone else's observable rear foot is on toe and not flat to the floor. But notice on Sophie - the flat foot causes a tilted spine. You can see it on Sophie and I just experienced it here as I tried it. That flat foot also forced my derriere to protrude unbecomingly. Yikes!
I do think a straight spine to be a key factor in a good looking curtsey. That's just me though. Some people prefer contortion.
 
Hmmm ok I thought there was a conversation here a few weeks ago about how the back foot was supposed to be flat?


LaRae
 
Just seen this via twitter.

Catherine greeting King Felipe. Apparently he tried to stop her curtseying.

Lovely picture

Instagram
 
Bowing and curtsying to the Queen 'not necessary' - Telegraph
For as long as there have been kings and queens, their subjects have bowed or curtsied in their presence.

But one of the Queen’s most senior former courtiers has claimed that bowing and curtsying is “not necessary” and that Her Majesty is “very relaxed” about whether people do it or not.

Dickie Arbiter, who spent 12 years at Buckingham Palace and Clarence House as a press secretary, also says in a new memoir that it is a myth that people must wait for the Queen to speak first when they meet her.

In On Duty With The Queen, Mr Arbiter says that such customs were mostly “made up by courtiers over the centuries, and retained for whatever reason. Regardless, what may have befitted the social mores of the 18th or 19th centuries wasn’t necessarily right for modern times.

“Bowing or curtsying when in the presence of a member of the Royal family? Not necessary. Not unless one chooses to.”
 
Kissing the hand is charming, but it's more a continental custom. Not many Englishmen would do it. In fact, not many English people do bow or curtsey any more, except to the Queen on occasions.
 
nice videos!

i noticed that marie went in front of joachim when greeting the people waiting for them, whilst mary went after. i guess what mary did is more proper?
but i also noticed from the video and several other pictures before that mary has a strange habit of crossing her legs when she stands up waiting or listening to people talking. it's a bit paris-hilton-esque and not very princessy to me....
 
. . . . . By the way, it is not at all required to make a deep fall to the earth. A minimal knick in combination with a little bow is equally effective and much more elegant: Sophia Loren towards Princess Magraret:

http://cdn.thedailybeast.com/conten...ineimage.img.503.jpg/1340620668750.cached.jpg
I do believe that Sophia's "curtsey" reflected the times in Europe . . . Princesses and Princes (many impoverished) were a dime a dozen from places that no longer had monarchies. Or, as I prefer to think, it may be more a sense of who's who . . . Diva's have there own sense of self-importance and Sophia had her standards!

05/11/1957 of Sophia Loren who curtseys whilst shaking hands with Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Film Performance of 'Les Girls' at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London. | Metro UK

A curtsey fit for a Queen.

I am utterly convinced that your stance on any "customs" of royalty (from hats and gloves to curtsies) is uniformly dismissive. If you are French then you do not have a royal family. This is not a problem. But I, as a member of the Commonwealth do and I have, and, should the opportunity present itself again, would again curtsey to members of the BRF. That is my heritage and custom. Performing a (men's) bow from the neck may work for you as a man but, as a woman I find it just doesn't cut it.
 
I do believe that Sophia's "curtsey" reflected the times in Europe . . . Princesses and Princes (many impoverished) were a dime a dozen from places that no longer had monarchies. Or, as I prefer to think, it may be more a sense of who's who . . . Diva's have there own sense of self-importance and Sophia had her standards!



05/11/1957 of Sophia Loren who curtseys whilst shaking hands with Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Film Performance of 'Les Girls' at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London. | Metro UK



A curtsey fit for a Queen.



I am utterly convinced that your stance on any "customs" of royalty (from hats and gloves to curtsies) is uniformly dismissive. If you are French then you do not have a royal family. This is not a problem. But I, as a member of the Commonwealth do and I have, and, should the opportunity present itself again, would again curtsey to members of the BRF. That is my heritage and custom. Performing a (men's) bow from the neck may work for you as a man but, as a woman I find it just doesn't cut it.


Well said Marg and ITA w/you. As some know, I was beyond privileged and lucky to meet the late Princess Diana during her and Prince Charles' final visit to Canada in 1991 and if anyone had peeked in our kitchen window that morning, they would have thought I'd lost it. Why!?! Because all I was doing was practicing my curtsey over and over and over and... If I ended up meeting HRH, as she was still at that time, then I was going to be prepared and well prepared at that!!

Besides after all she did to raise awareness for AIDS and the Rights and Needs of Disabled People such as myself, I did not only bend my knee due to her being just HRH Diana, Princess of Wales, but also to show her the very great amount of respect I held for her then and still do to this day. If I ever have the incredible privilege to ever meet a Royal ever again, I will bend the knee again and willingly w/great pride too. I could care less how old fashioned it is, there are still things IMO you do because it's simply the right thing to do and I was raised that showing proper respect when called for it is never the wrong thing to do.

Only, if there is a next time for me, then God willing I won't be waiting for pretty major knee surgery, having to wear a knee brace to keep it from giving out on me *and then* being in such a daze it was really happening, forgetting I was not to put my full weight on it for anything, forget doing a curtsey and....

How on earth I didn't end up in a face plant on the floor... :eek: :)

Pictures of HGD Guillaume & HGD Stephanie Bowing and Curtsying to The Emperor & Empress of Japan-
https://ru-royalty.livejournal.com/2524492.html


Lovely photos and wonderful to see TM both looking very well. :). Stephanie has a very graceful curtsey.


Sent from my iPad using The Royals Community mobile app
 
Pictures of HGD Guillaume & HGD Stephanie Bowing and Curtsying to The Emperor & Empress of Japan-
https://ru-royalty.livejournal.com/2524492.html
Lovely, just lovely, Stephanie's gored dress enables her to execute perfectly graceful and elegant curtsey.

The Emperor and Empress are very, very, reserved, but the Empress looks delighted and Stephanie's expression is so radiently serene yet genuinely pleased to meet both she and her husband. I think, as the Americans are wont to say, Luxembourg lucked out when Guillaume married Stephanie.

Thanks for the pics Dman.
 
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It looks like something between a bow and a curtsey.
 
:previous: I'm guessing the disparity of height between HM and Angelina is one of the reason it looks odd and suspect she felt that as an American Citizen she shouldn't curstey . . . and then caved at the genuine warmth of the Queen's smile and gave a little dip.

For whatever reason I think her entire demeanor reflects a deep respect for both the Queen and the honour bestowed upon her. :flowers:
 
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