Every Royal Princess Charlotte Is Required To Curtsy To

It's no secret that being a prominent member of the British royal family comes with a lot of rules and guidelines, from which children are notably not exempted. One young royal likely becoming all too familiar with everything that life expects of him is Prince George, given he's currently second in line for the throne. However, just behind George in the line of succession is his younger sister, Princess Charlotte, who's apparently becoming quite the expert on royal rules in her own right — even if Charlotte does still bend the rules. That being said, one set of precautions that tends to throw even the most ardent royal experts for a loop are the rules surrounding bows and curtsies. 

Simply put, the enforcement of these longstanding guidelines largely comes down to an individual's discretion. A good chunk of royal women, for example, don't really bother to curtsy to one another. Still, curtsying remains a time-honored tradition among many senior members of The Firm, as do some of the stricter regulations surrounding it. But this creates an interesting situation for young royals, and Charlotte, in particular. After all, she's much younger than a lot of fellow high-profile royal children, but also sits much higher on the totem pole as far as distance from the crown is concerned. So, this begs the question: Who are the royals that Princess Charlotte must curtsy to?

By all accounts, the only royals Princess Charlotte is expected to curtsy to are the reigning monarch and their royal consort who, at the time of writing, are her grandfather, King Charles III, and step-grandmother, Queen Consort Camilla Parker Bowles. Of course, this also means that she may be expected to curtsy to her own parents, Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Prince and Princess of Wales, when he eventually ascends the throne.

Taking things a step further, Charlotte may even have to curtsy to her older brother, Prince George, when he succeeds William as the king of England. "When you bow or curtsy, you're doing it to the title. You're not doing it to the person," former royal butler Grant Harrold clarified to Fox News Digital in October 2025, quoting Charles. Naturally, though, it remains to be seen to what degree this will actually be enforced in the years and decades to come. The rules are already pretty flexible. 

The Prince of Wales reportedly isn't really a fan of excessive tradition either. In fact, William has already started to upend some of Charles' longstanding royal rules to create a more modern, less stuffy monarchy. "I think William finds some of the pomp and circumstance, and particularly some of the more elaborate outfits, slightly embarrassing, and is likely to be relieved to be able to tone it down," royal biographer Ingrid Seward explained to The Telegraph, also in October 2025.

To Grant Harrold's point about curtsying to the rank, not the person, the main reason that Princess Charlotte does not have to curtsy to most other members of The Firm — including her elders — is the fact that she has an HRH, or Her Royal Highness, title. As a result, Charlotte is generally considered to be, at minimum, on the same level as just about any other working royal who's not currently sitting on the throne — at least when it comes to exchanging pleasantries, anyway. 

As such, she is not generally required to curtsy to them, nor is anyone else with an HRH title required to curtsy to her, for that matter. As royal etiquette expert Myka Meier detailed to People in March 2023, "The general rule of thumb to remember is that a Royal Highness does not curtsy to another Royal Highness." At the very least, that should make greeting everybody at family events much faster!