Bowing and Curtseying

[Mbruno]

Originally Posted by Fijiro

They didn't need to bow to the QueenMother, she was not the Monarchy, if they did it was probably out of respect. The QueenMother bows to the Queen.

It is customary and proper to curtsy to queens dowager.

[JR76]

Originally Posted by Fijiro

They didn't need to bow to the QueenMother, she was not the Monarchy, if they did it was probably out of respect. The QueenMother bows to the Queen.

Once a queen always a queen. It's correct to curtsy to the widow/er of a monarch.
The Queen Mother probably only curtsied once when she first met her daughter after she ascended the throne. As did her grandmother Queen Mary, who when Queen Elizabeth came to visit her at Marlborough house at first curtsied and then said "Lilibeth, your skirt is to short for mourning"

[Troy Thompson]

I wonder what the reaction would be if someone performed a perfectly-executed Texas dip upon meeting a monarch. I am fairly sure that would be seen as way too much, but I'm not 100% certain.

[SLV]

What is a Texas dip?

[Nice Nofret]

Originally Posted by Iain

A similar thing happened when Harry and Meghan visited Tonga and the Princess who welcomed them at the airport curtsied to them. Why???

They were there in Place of the Queen who is the official head of the Commonwealth.


Bowing and Courtseys are done:


out of respect:
- for the age of a person
- for their achievments
- out of pure respect
- for the position they represent.


In some contries it is still custom, that elder people are treated with loads of respect. Or anyone who is higher in the social order; Children to their parents.

[Biri]

Originally Posted by Moonmaiden23

Hmmm...good question. It was perhaps just simple courtesy because they are of the same rank.

She was not obliged to curtsey to Charles.

She did it out of respect for elders.

[Osipi]

Originally Posted by SLV

What is a Texas dip?

The Texas dip is a form of elaborate curtsey and prostration performed in Texas during debutante balls. It involves the woman extending her arms completely to either side and lowering herself fully so that one knee touches the floor while simultaneously bowing her head to the side so that her left ear touches her lap.

[Minister of Court]

Originally Posted by SLV

What is a Texas dip?

The way Lady Thatcher used to do it.

[sarahedwards2]

Originally Posted by Minister of Court

The way Lady Thatcher used to do it.

Were Margaret Thatcher’s curtsies to the Queen really that elaborate? Does anyone have any video clips?

[Moonmaiden23]

I remember seeing a video of it. It was something else...that's the most charitable way I can describe it.

[SLV]

Oh dear. That is quite a deep curtsey. Reminds me of the curtseys in the Sisi-films.

[Lilyflo]

I'm a monarchist & have met several members of the BRF but I've never curtseyed to any of them because it's archaic nonsense IMO. I have no problem with anyone else doing it if they want to.

[ladongas]

Oh, I thought a Texas dip was like barbecue sauce.

[fandesacs2003]

Texas Dip is nice but made only for balls gowns, when you see only the graceful part of the gesture. Imagine with a short dress or pants, it would appear so ugly. And of course only for young girls, an older lady couldn't rise up....
I'm wondering since America has no royalty to whom were these ladies curtseying. Maybe only for the débutantes bal.
And I'm astonished that it is named Texas. I would expect it to be commun in Boston high society or in the US south States, like New Orleans or Atlanta, before the secession war.

[fandesacs2003]

Originally Posted by JR76

I've been part of a discussion about the pic on Instagram. While it's only speculation I wonder if Haya's curtsey is either due to the fact that as a Second wife she's not afforded the same rank as a Princess consort or that since Dubai is part of the UAE her husband isn't seen as equal to a European HRH.
It could also be that she has a traditional view of rank - in discussions on Instagram I've seen members of royal families claim that any HSH should curtsey to an HRH which goes against what many of us instinctively feel that all heads of state are alike.

But Haya has a rank from bitth! She is a royal highness by blood, she is daughter of a King. She has an equal rank to prince Charles by blood, like him. She is Royal Highness and will never loose it. This is the reason she is titled HRH princess Haya and not Sheikha. The other wifes of Sheikh Mohamed are titled only Sheikhas, I don't know if they have HSH before the Sheikha..
By the way she is not second wife, I think she is the 6th, but this is nor the subject.
When Princess Alexia of Greece, daughter of King Konstantin got married in London, before the Queen, she curtseyed to the Queen but not to Prince Philip. She might have done it by respect to his age but she didn't. Prince Philip is a royal highness and not majesty, they are both HRH but Alexia is daughter of a King, prince philip not.

[JR76]

Originally Posted by fandesacs2003

By the way she is not second wife, I think she is the 6th, but this is nor the subject.

Being a Second wife is a position and doesn't mean that you married someone right after hid First wife. Princess Haya as the daughter of a Hashemite king and a Sayyida would never be considered anything lesser than a Second wife. Because of her descent Princess Haya is one of the most highranking ladies in the Arab world.

[Troy Thompson]

Originally Posted by SLV

Oh dear. That is quite a deep curtsey. Reminds me of the curtseys in the Sisi-films.

It's basically to curtseying as full prostration is to bowing.

Originally Posted by fandesacs2003

And I'm astonished that it is named Texas. I would expect it to be commun in Boston high society or in the US south States, like New Orleans or Atlanta, before the secession war.

Make no mistake, Texas is a part of Dixie. The antebellum planter aristocracy of the South (the "American gentry") was the closest thing the United States ever had to landed nobility, and many southerners still yearn for that genteel image as a part of the Southern identity.

And Texans, on top of being Southerners, also have an incessant drive to always try to do things, for lack of a better term, "bigger" than everyone else. That's part of Texas's own state identity.

[sarahedwards2]

Originally Posted by fandesacs2003

Texas Dip is nice but made only for balls gowns, when you see only the graceful part of the gesture. Imagine with a short dress or pants, it would appear so ugly. And of course only for young girls, an older lady couldn't rise up....
I'm wondering since America has no royalty to whom were these ladies curtseying. Maybe only for the débutantes bal.
And I'm astonished that it is named Texas. I would expect it to be commun in Boston high society or in the US south States, like New Orleans or Atlanta, before the secession war.

If you find it too difficult you can always cheat and still make it appear graceful; you’re under a big ball gown so no one can see what your legs are doing.

[fandesacs2003]

Originally Posted by JR76

Being a Second wife is a position and doesn't mean that you married someone right after hid First wife. Princess Haya as the daughter of a Hashemite king and a Sayyida would never be considered anything lesser than a Second wife. Because of her descent Princess Haya is one of the most highranking ladies in the Arab world.

Thanks for exlapanation about second wife.
Agree with you a out her high position by birth. And for this reason I was wondering why she curtseyd

[theroyalfly]

Originally Posted by fandesacs2003

Thanks for exlapanation about second wife.
Agree with you a out her high position by birth. And for this reason I was wondering why she curtseyd

Princess Haya might have curtsied out of respect since Prince Charles is older. As you said, they are both HRH, children of a monarch.

To add, in the Arab world, The Hashemite, the royal house of which Princess Haya is from is descended from the the great-grandfather of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. They also ruled Mecca, the holiest city of the muslims, continuously from 10th century until 1926 when the House of Saud took over.

Princess Haya continues to use her title and style even after becoming the 6th and last wife of the Emir of Dubai. Her husband and wives only has the style of "HH."

Certainly, they are not “a royal family of carpetbaggers and parvenus.”