If you’ve ever wondered where Kate Middleton stands in the British royal family, you should know that it’s far more complicated than meets the eye.
According to People magazine, Middleton is expected to follow the royal family’s rules of precedence, which date back to 1595, even though she’s the future Queen Consort.
“Women of the royal family who marry in like Kate and Meghan gain their titles by marriage and, therefore, are of a lower rank than those born into their titles,” Wendy Bosberry-Scott (royal expert and editor of Debrett’s) told People last month.
As the mag points out, the rule “ranks blood relatives of the monarch above almost anyone else in the family.” This means that royals-by-marriage (like Middleton) must curtsy to blood-related relatives, like Princess Anne, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice.