How to Greet the Queen: A Practical British Guide to Royal Etiquette and Elegant Modern Manners

by Caroline Taggart

Practical and invaluable advice on every aspect of modern etiquette, both royal and everyday. The author, Her Ladyship, guides you through basic good manners in a range of situations, both formal and informal occasions, whether at home or at work or abroad.

How to meet and greet The Queen and other royals and elegant ways of sitting down, standing up and getting in and out of cars. And how not to look as if you are bored to death.

Genres: Nonfiction

189 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2014

About the author

I was an editor for 30 years before Michael O’Mara Books asked me to write what became I Used to Know That. I think its success took everyone by surprise – it certainly did me – but it led to my writing a lot of other books and finally, after about three years, feeling able to tell people I was an author. It's a nice feeling.

Until recently the book I was most proud of was The Book of London Place Names (Ebury), partly because I am passionate about London and partly because, having written ten or so books before that, I finally felt I was getting the hang of it.

Now I have to confess I’m really excited by my first venture into continuous narrative. For A Slice of Britain: around the country by cake (AA) I travelled the country investigating, writing about and eating cake. From Cornish Saffron Cake to Aberdeen Butteries, I interviewed about 25 people who are baking cakes, biscuits and buns that are unique to their region, part of their heritage – and pretty darned delicious. The Sunday Times reviewed it and described me as ‘engaging, greedy and droll’, which pleased me enormously.

Reviews

[Annamaria]

I picked this book up at Holyrood House, in Scotland, in a crazy Scottish-shopping mood (duh) after visiting the palace and was pleasantly surprised by it. Visiting the huge and wonderful palace had left me wondering how someone would behave in such a building, with such people, and this book had all the answers for that.

This book was interesting, written in formal English but not lacking of a number of jokes, and irony. It is about etiquette; more in depth, it discusses about manners, and the ways of behaving one should have in various occasions. Usually the first part of a chapter regards a Royal situtation (eg: a Royal banquette) and the second part a more informal situation (eg a barbecue with friends.) So it is not only interesting, since you get to know Royal (weird) behaving rules which sometimes seem (SO) exaggerated, but also useful, as manners to be adopted in situations in which you could find yourself are fully explained and analysed.

What I found most interesting were all the little things I wouldn't even think about, when being with someone, which I found out have an enormous importance in Royality. I also liked the wide range of subjects, which went from dating, to eating, to letter-writing, to getting out of a car, etc.
And, of course, I found the jokes by Her Ladyship well-placed, funny and emphasized by the formal writing.

[Lia Turnbull · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun read, and useful!

[Lois · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked the up at Holyrood Palace in Scotland as a souvenir and found it to be both entertaining and informative.