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There are a lot of ancient traditions to uphold.
By Dan O'Reilly — Written on May 15, 2022
The cultural fascination with how royalty lives is basically as old as the monarchy itself. A common thought is what it would be like to be a royal and, by extension, to grow up in the palace. It must be quite unique to be a junior royal.
Obviously, those children lead very different lives and undoubtedly need to abide by different rules compared to a typical household.
While Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may have avoided having to make their children follow these rules, Prince William and Kate Middleton's three kids are still keeping up with their family's traditions.
Here are 14 rules that royal children have to follow.
1. They must be baptized
Because the Queen is the head of the Church of England, her entire family has certain responsibilities as relatives to the holy monarch.
We've seen all members of the 3rd generation of living royals get baptized as little ones and even Meghan Markle had to get anointed before marrying Harry.
This rule applies to all members of the family, including children born into it.
2. Be trained in etiquette
In order to be a royal, one must act like it and the children of the royal family are all schooled in how to act accordingly to their station.
“Etiquette training for the royals starts as soon as they’re old enough to sit at a table,” says royal expert Myka Meire to People.
“They are raised having formal meals, going to formal events and practicing everything from voice levels to dressing appropriately to even, of course, how to curtsy and bow.
3. Attending royal events is compulsory
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As a royal from day one, the responsibilities of maintaining the public image and attending high-profile events begin at a young age.
It goes without saying that the junior members of the royal family are also expected to behave.
4. They can’t travel on a plane with siblings
This one is actually a safety measure, but not because the children are a danger to each other, but because the line of succession might be in danger if multiple heirs are in the same place when something goes wrong.
5. Learn a second language
This one isn’t really a rule in the same way that the security and etiquette rules are. It’s just very common for the royals to learn a second language when they are young, commonly French or, more recently, Spanish.
It has been reported that, at Prince George's school, learning Spanish and French is a key part of the curriculum for children as young as 8 years old.
6. Boys must wear shorts
Due to an antiquated cultural stigma surrounding pants, it is a requirement that young royal boys have to wear shorts (heaven forbid they are seen in commoner clothes.)
This rule has an odd origin. "The usual custom is that a boy graduates to trousers around eight years old," explains etiquette expert William Hanson to Harper's Bazaar.
Hence, you may have noticed that 8-year-old Prince George has started to don longer trousers more and more often.
7. Girls wear dresses
For a similar reason as in the case of young boys, young girls in the royal family are expected to wear dresses in a similar style to the royal women that came before.
Thankfully, this one seems to be adhered to less and less in the modern day. But we still typically see Princess Charlotte in dresses.
8. Siblings wear matching outfits
More of a common style or unwritten rule, royal siblings are very often seen wearing complementary or even matching outfits to one another. Regardless of any rules or stigmas, it’s certainly cute!
9. No black outfits during daylight events
It’s a pretty common tradition in the western world that black clothes signify mourning and are sometimes bad luck, like when worn at a wedding.
But for the royals, wearing black has it's own set of rules. It’s almost universal that the junior royals avoid black outfits for daylight events.
10. They must always have a black outfit on hand
Despite not ordinarily wearing black outfits, all of the royals are required to have such an outfit close at hand in case of any sudden or unexpected royal deaths.
11. They cannot eat shellfish
This one sounds a little strange but has a pretty straightforward explanation. The royal children’s diet is quite closely controlled, but they are not supposed to eat shellfish simply because it’s one of the more common causes of food poisoning.
12. They must to be impartial
The royal family is meant to be neutral on political and social issues and that applies to the children too.
While it’s unlikely that a 5-year-old prince is going to have much to say about wealth inequality or something, it’s trained into them early on to be politically neutral.
13. They're not allowed play Monopoly
This rule doesn’t just apply to the children, but also to the rest of the royal palace where the game has been banned. Apparently, the royals got a bit too competitive at one point and the game was subsequently banned by the queen.
Luckily for the royals, they already own all of the United Kingdom anyway so they don't need to lay claim to fictional properties.
14. They royal kids listen to nannies and security
In the interest of safety (and maybe a bit of humility) the young royalty is required to listen to both security personnel and their nannies. They may be royalty, but they’re also still children.
Dan O'Reilly is a writer who covers news, politics, and social justice. Follow him on Twitter.