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Kate must curtsey to Beatrice and Eugenie

Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Kate must curtsey to Beatrice and Eugenie
Catherine, Princess Beatrice and the Countess of Wessex curtseying to the Queen.

The Duchess of Cambridge will one day be queen but she will still have to curtsey to Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

Queen Elizabeth II has updated the royal Order of Precedence — which dictates the status of every member of the royal family — to clarify Catherine's position.

The rules make clear whom Catherine must curtsey to, and who will have to curtsey or bow to her.

In pictures: Kate Middleton – Queen in training

If Catherine is without her husband Prince William, she must curtsey to all "blood princesses" including Beatrice, Eugenie, Princess Anne and the Queen's cousin Princess Alexandra.

But if William is present, Catherine curtseys only to Prince Charles, Camilla (only if Charles is present), Prince Philip and the Queen.

The Order of Precedence also determines the order in which royals arrive at official engagements.

In pictures: Camilla and Sophie succumb to the Kate Effect

It was last updated after Charles's wedding to Camilla in 2005 and is taken very seriously by the royal family, who bow and curtsey to each other in public and in private.

This most recent update does not change anything practically, merely clarifying Catherine's official position. She was privately schooled in whom to curtsey to shortly before her marriage and has been obeying the protocol ever since.

Your say: Do you think bowing and curtseying is old-fashioned and out-dated or an important part of the British monarchy?

Video: What next for the royal family?

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