Kate Middleton's Quick Curtsy to Queen Elizabeth Praised on Social Media

Kate, the Princess of Wales, has become the subject of a new viral video. It shows a curtsy she performed at Westminster Abbey, London, in 2022 to Queen Elizabeth II, during a special memorial service for the late Prince Philip.

Kate's curtsies have been caught on camera on numerous occasions over the course of her 12-year marriage to Prince William, with many going viral on social media.

The curtsy is a traditional act of reverence offered by female members of the royal family to the sovereign, taking the form of a bending of the knee and a bowing of the head. Two curtsies are offered each day, once when greeting the king or queen, and again when saying goodbye.

Kate has been photographed curtsying to Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles, Queen Camilla and other world monarchs, including Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and, most recently, King Abdullah II of Jordan.

Uploaded to TikTok by user @star2810.mt on August 12, footage of Kate's quick curtsy to Queen Elizabeth during the memorial service for the monarch's late husband has been viewed over 104,000 times on the platform so far.

The memorial service took place nearly a year after Prince Philip's death at the age of 99 on April 9, 2021. The royal's funeral had been held at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England. However, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, mourners were strictly limited to 30 members of the congregation, in line with government-imposed public health restrictions.

The larger memorial service held at Westminster Abbey on March 29, 2022, was an opportunity for extended members of the royal family, as well as collective members of Philip's charities, to mark his passing.

Queen Elizabeth's own health was failing at the time, and her presence was not guaranteed. However, she did appear at the service. She controversially walked in on the arm of son Prince Andrew, who had retired from public life earlier in the year over a scandal linked to denied allegations of sexual abuse.

In the official broadcast footage of the queen walking in, Kate is seen quickly to drop into a respectful curtsy as she passed. The princess was wearing a large wide-brimmed black hat and a monochrome polka-dot dress.

The viral video, captioned "watch the moment Kate curtsies to the queen," has received almost 1,500 likes and numerous comments, many of which have praised the royal.

"She is always so respectful," wrote one TikTok user.

"She has always understood the assignment," posted another, with a further comment reading: "She studied the protocol down to the minute. Great job Kate."

The subject of royal curtsies was pulled into focus in recent months after Meghan Markle received backlash for her description of her first attempt at the gesture in the Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, released last December.

The duchess told viewers she thought Harry's request that she perform a curtsy to his grandmother while they were dating was a joke. Meghan went on to perform an exaggerated version of the gesture, which some critics and commentators interpreted as disrespectful.

Despite this, Meghan has been photographed performing a number of perfectly executed curtsies in public since marrying into the royal family in 2018. The duchess offered a number to the late queen during the national mourning period following her death at the age of 96 in September 2022.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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