🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
The Princess of Wales' curtsies have become the focus of a new viral video on social media site, TikTok, as she continues her extended absence from public duties while recovering from "planned abdominal surgery."
Kate was discharged from The London Clinic on January 29 after being admitted for surgery on January 16. The cause for the procedure has not yet been announced. At the time she returned home Kensington Palace announced that she was making "good progress," but that she is not expected to be seen publicly until after Easter.
During the princess' recuperation, fans have taken to social media to post images and clips from favorite past appearances, one area of focus of which being her graceful curtsies to Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles III and Queen Camilla over the years.
Since her marriage to Prince William in 2011, Kate has been spotted curtsying at a number of high-profile occasions.
The gesture is performed twice daily by female members of the royal family when first greeting and then saying goodbye to the king or queen. It takes the form of a brief bending of the knee and bow of the head.
A royal curtsy controversy broke out in 2022, when Meghan Markle drew attention to the gesture in her Netflix docuseries with Prince Harry. In the show, the duchess recreated an overdramatized curtsy while describing her first meeting with Queen Elizabeth, causing some critics to hit back that she was showing disrespect to the monarch and British customs.
Uploaded to TikTok by user, princessdianamemories, on February 15, the latest royal curtsy video to reach viral numbers features a compilation of Kate's efforts, ranging from the first curtsy following her marriage to recent examples offered to King Charles and Queen Rania of Jordan.
Captioned "Princess of Wales' perfect curtsies," the compilation has been viewed over 1.7 million times on the social media site, gaining in excess of 175,000 likes and numerous comments, many of which have voiced praise for Kate.
@princessdianamemories She was born to be a royal? |#princessdianamemories #royalfamilybritish #princesscatherineofwales #princesskate #fyp #ladydi #fyp ♬ sonido original - ???? ???
"She has a resemblance of [Princess] Diana doing [a] perfect curtsy..," wrote one user.
"You can see that she has respect and deserves the crown," posted another, with a further user adding: "It won't be long, and she won't have to curtsy to anybody, she will be queen."
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more