Bowing and Curtseying


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I think the person of lesser value is supposed to have their head lower than the higher ranking person. Diana is tall and the Japanese are short so she had to make a lower curtsy.
 
Moonmaiden23 said:
That video put a lump in my throat. Diana's curtsies were perfect, as was her interaction with the adorable little Japanese girl...very natural and no awkwardness whatsoever.

Gosh, I miss her :sad:!
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Keep in mind, Moonmaiden, that my mother had to deal with me as an adolescent regarding Diana. :rolleyes: Not to be wished on anyone. :p I see something very different, because I cannot 'un-see' my initial 'seeing' of Diana. That long-legged sprint to the Imperial couple is so 'Look at me!'. I see Diana jabbering away far too much, so much so that the Empress has to intervene and do an 'enforced' silence on Diana. Watch Diana's reaction to being 'silenced'.

I know, I know, the unforgiving nature of the adolescent! I will say no more. My mother despaired of me. ;)

I am able now to see the lovely woman making every effort to be charming, albeit a bit ott even as it was most of the time, especially as it got nearer the end of her life. What had once been natural seemed to become manic in quality. So it is how differently we see things.

I really need to stay clear of all things Diana. While I feel I am more well-mannered now about her, some habits die hard. It's hard to 'un-see' what I see. However, yes, a great curtsy! :flowers:
 
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Lady Nimue said:
Keep in mind, Moonmaiden, that my mother had to deal with me as an adolescent regarding Diana. :rolleyes: Not to be wished on anyone. :p I see something very different, because I cannot 'un-see' my initial 'seeing' of Diana. That long-legged sprint to the Imperial couple is so 'Look at me!'. I see Diana jabbering away far too much, so much so that the Empress has to intervene and do an 'enforced' silence on Diana. Watch Diana's reaction to being 'silenced'.

I know, I know, the unforgiving nature of the adolescent! I will say no more. My mother despaired of me. ;)

I am able now to see the lovely woman making every effort to be charming, albeit a bit ott even as it was most of the time, especially as it got nearer the end of her life. What had once been natural seemed to become manic in quality. So it is how differently we see things.

I really need to stay clear of all things Diana. While I feel I am more well-mannered now about her, some habits die hard. It's hard to 'un-see' what I see. However, yes, a great curtsy! :flowers:
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Don't know what you're talking about, but yes, it was a great curtsy.
 
Lady Nimue said:
Keep in mind, Moonmaiden, that my mother had to deal with me as an adolescent regarding Diana. :rolleyes: Not to be wished on anyone. :p I see something very different, because I cannot 'un-see' my initial 'seeing' of Diana. That long-legged sprint to the Imperial couple is so 'Look at me!'. I see Diana jabbering away far too much, so much so that the Empress has to intervene and do an 'enforced' silence on Diana. Watch Diana's reaction to being 'silenced'.

I know, I know, the unforgiving nature of the adolescent! I will say no more. My mother despaired of me. ;)

I am able now to see the lovely woman making every effort to be charming, albeit a bit ott even as it was most of the time, especially as it got nearer the end of her life. What had once been natural seemed to become manic in quality. So it is how differently we see things.

I really need to stay clear of all things Diana. While I feel I am more well-mannered now about her, some habits die hard. It's hard to 'un-see' what I see. However, yes, a great curtsy! :flowers:
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Lady N., Diana was 5'10 1/2, the same height as me. I can attest that when one has legs that comprise more than half their body length it's impossible NOT to take long, athletic strides...my friends don't like to take walks with me for that very reason. It's just not possible or graceful to take small mincing steps when you are so tall.;) Others have to trot to keep up.

Watch any video of Diana exiting a car to approach people.

She approached everyone with that long, athletic stride of hers..it was one of her trademarks.
 
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Moonmaiden23 said:
Lady N., Diana was 5'10 1/2, the same height as me. I can attest that when one has legs that comprise more than half their body length it's impossible NOT to take long, athletic strides...my friends don't like to take walks with me for that very reason. It's just not possible or graceful to take small mincing steps when you are so tall.;) Others have to trot to keep up.

Watch any video of Diana exiting a car to approach people.

She approached everyone with that long, athletic stride of hers..it was one of her trademarks.
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I agree, Diana had that really long and elegant stride and it showed a lot, even when she first hit the royal spotlight.
 
A curtsey is a sign of respect; in the royal world, it is usually reserved for someone of higher rank than yourself. Queen Mother only performed a curtsey once to her daughter and that was at the coronation; queen Mother gave a gesture to recognize gnat her daughter was the sovereign though both queens. From that moment on, it was never required nor expected of her to do so.
 
Do the royal and ruling families of the Middle east curtsey or bow to one other?? I haven't never seen any them do it to one other. I have seen Queen Rania curtsey to British royals and Princess Diana curtsey to Saudi royals. Is it something they only do when around European Royals??
 
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The President is a person who here in America we all feel like we are equal to. While a bow or curtsy for us even shows, thanks, equality and respect, here, a formal greeting is a handshake, that expresses all those things. Overseas it is just different, The Monarchy is like part of the church, head of the country, a way of society depends on the existence of, that even we Americans enjoy. There the Monarchy is just so fabulous, it shows just great stability deep down we admire, since we have such a change in politics every so often that keeps us on our toes. Really America is a country that is still civilizing in many ways. We hold on to our origins, but when we go back in our family tree we find we are from somewhere else in hereditary while some of us simply do not know. Personally I don't exactly know. I was told English. That is difficult because there is no proof. There is a lot of this in the states so we stick with origins within America and the State's history. It fills the void. Then we are left with so much battle amongst us in our past not but just 4 to 6 generations ago. See, so we don't mean to be rude, ignorant, absorbed in our education, jobs, lifestyle or finances, it is just all we know to do to be resilient and survive. Then we discover the rest of the world and feel like outcasts because we do not fit in with places that have Monarchy sometimes. ..Just bridging a gap. Now we have riots, none of us are exactly used to. We Americans have had chaos for the past decade, wars, riots, poverty and we know a lot of countries were right there by our side, we appreciate that. If you know one thing about Americans, know we are thankful for all the sidekicking around with us other countries do. Through that we feel like we have made some really great friends through thick and thin for the right thing through the years with a lot of countries and most of us really hold on to that as part of not only our history but our very hereditary origins. We might seem to be a little ruff around the edges but we are just big ol softies.
 
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:previous:

I think that as well as being a protocol or etiquette requirement (although these days it is not strictly necessary) bowing and curtseying is also a cultural thing. In Japan, people bow all the time in most social circumstances and more than they do hand shaking. In the US, no one bows, but always shake hands in greeting (or do high fives or hug!) and it has it's own cultural way of doing things (and protocols) just as good as anywhere else. Its simply a case of different countries doing things in different ways.

I said it once before that if I ever met the US president (or indeed any president) the likelihood is that I would probably end up bowing to him, but that is just me!
 
While we don't bow and curtesy in the States, you would stand up as a sign of respect when the President entered a room. Same with judges in a court room.


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Jacknch said:
In the US, no one bows, but always shake hands in greeting (or do high fives or hug!) and it has it's own cultural way of doing things (and protocols) just as good as anywhere else.
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oh...the hugging... i vividly remember going in for a handshake with a US person i had met that day, and them going in for a hug... :lol:... hand got trapped somewhere in the middle :lol: (won't happen again ;) )
Yep, definitely many cultural differences, also between monarchies, one is very different from another
 
One of the things that most impresses me as far as the British monarchy goes is that should one decide (it is a personal decision up to each and every one of us) to bow or curtsy to HM (or any of the royals), is that we'd be showing our respects not only just to the royal in question but to what they represent and herein lies the difference between them and, for example, the President of the United States.

Queen Elizabeth is the Head of State, Supreme Governor of the Church of England along with many other of her formal titles but she does not represent anything political at all. She is the embodiment of all things British. Its history, its traditions and the continuity of the British people. To compare, showing respect to HM would be more fitting as a US counterpart would be the respect shown to the US flag. There is an extensive list of protocol on how the flag is treated, flown and whatever. In essence, both the Queen and the flag are respected for what they represent more so than as a personal thing.
 
Skippyboo said:
While we don't bow and curtesy in the States, you would stand up as a sign of respect when the President entered a room. Same with judges in a court room.


Sent from my iPhone using The Royals Community
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Many Catholics I know, including myself, always bow or genuflect in the presence of a Cardinal. The Patriarch of Jerusalem once paid a visit to our parish church and it would not have occurred to me to simply shake his hand.

As a gesture of reverence and respect for his position, I genuflected deeply as I approached him. Everyone did, including the priest.


While I would never genuflect to a civil authority like the President, I would always rise and stand in his presence.
 
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Duc_et_Pair said:
Gracious as always but a bit strange, it is her very own mother-in-law. I can not imagine William and Harry bowing to their father when he is King.
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Why not? I'm sure we've seen them bow to the Queen now, and I know we've seen Charles bow to his mother before. Most of the family does bow/curtesy to the Queen; I believe the only exception is the DoE.
 
Ish said:
Why not? I'm sure we've seen them bow to the Queen now, and I know we've seen Charles bow to his mother before. Most of the family does bow/curtesy to the Queen; I believe the only exception is the DoE.
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Didn't Zara say in an interview how curtsying to the Queen was something that they never thought about it was just done?


Sent from my iPhone using The Royals Community mobile app
 
Prince Phillip doesn't actually have to bow to anyone does he...can't remember protocol for consorts.


I would imagine the boys will bow to their father...why wouldn't they?


LaRae
 
Pranter said:
Prince Phillip doesn't actually have to bow to anyone does he...can't remember protocol for consorts.


I would imagine the boys will bow to their father...why wouldn't they?


LaRae
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Would they bow for their mother Diana, as Queen? It is so very unnatural.
 
Duc_et_Pair said:
Would they bow for their mother Diana, as Queen? It is so very unnatural.
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I believe they would. One thing to remember is that regardless of familial relationships, when one bows or curtsies to the Queen, it is not primarily bowing to the person but rather what she represents. The Crown.
 
The Queen-Consort does not represent the Crown. She has no any constitutional power other than being the spouse of the King. Thinking what a sort of hands-on mother Diana was (and the sort of father Charles is) it would not surprise me when the King requests his sons not to bow to him.
 
Okay just joining the conversation but I swear I heard or read QEII stopped the custom of her children bowing and curtsying to her when they were children? I think they may do so automatically and in formal circumstances but if Viscount Severn say is playing and forgets sometimes he won't be scolded.
 
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