Royal rule that applies to Princess Lilibet now she’s turned five

Princess Lilibet has had her first milestone birthday at age five, but she is soon to learn that with age comes more responsibility.

From now on, the daughter of Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex will be expected to engage in royal protocol, especially in front of her grandfather, if they reunite.

Now she is five years old, Lilibet would be expected to curtsy to King Charles and Queen Camilla upon meeting and parting ways – though she hasn’t reunited with her grandparents in several years.

Royal expert Marlene Eilers Koenig told HELLO! that by age five, “The only person they will curtsy or bow to is the sovereign. A royal highness does not curtsy to another royal highness.

“Curtseying and bowing is etiquette, nothing to do with precedence. You bow or curtsy the first time you see the sovereign and then again when you leave.”

Royal children are generally exempt from a number of rules dictating the etiquette of the rest of the royal family.

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For instance, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis don’t have to attend state dinners and banquets, instead taking their meals with their nannies during these important events.

But that doesn’t mean they weren’t learning.

The nannies and other staff would teach them proper etiquette even as they dined in the nursery to ensure they would be ready for polite society by the time they grew up, former royal chef Darren McGrady told HELLO!

As second-in-line to the British throne, Prince George has had added restrictions imposed on him.

His parents, Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales, often skirted a well-established royal expectation for him, but now that he is 12 years old, it can no longer be ignored.

It is a rule in the royal family that two heirs must not travel by air together, put in place to protect the royal family’s future line of succession, in case of a catastrophic event mid-air.

The late Queen Elizabeth II had to give special permission for Prince William and Prince George to travel on the same aircraft when they flew to Australia and New Zealand in 2014, as royal protocol usually dictates direct heirs to the throne travel separately.

It is believed the special permission has been granted at other times since then.

News of the unusual rule was revealed ahead of Prince George’s 11th birthday by King Charles’s former pilot, Graham Laurie.

He told OK! magazine: “We flew all four: the Prince [Charles], the Princess [the late Diana], Prince William and Prince Harry, up until Prince William was 12 years old.

“After that, he had to have a separate aircraft and we could only fly all four together when they were young with the written permission of Her Majesty.

“When William became 12, he would fly normally in a 125 from Northolt and we would fly the 146 out with the other three on.”

But as Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are not destined to be full-time working royals like George, they are likely to be allowed to fly with him and their mother, the Princess of Wales.