ROYAL TRIVIA

The Royal Family have many odd and often outdated habits and traditions. Here are ten of them relating to our modern royals...

1: Queen Elizabeth II had a designated person to break in her shoes for her, her longtime aide, Angela Kelly shared in her tell-all book, The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen.

“As has been reported a lot in the press, a flunky wears in Her Majesty’s shoes to ensure that they are comfortable and that she is always good to go,” wrote Kelly. “And yes, I am that flunky.”

“The Queen has very little time to herself and not time to wear in her own shoes, and as we share the same shoe size it makes the most sense this way,” Kelly continued.

Stewart Parvin - who designed Queen Elizabeth’s wardrobe for 11 years revealed that a staff member would walk the Buckingham Palace grounds to ensure Queen Elizabeth’s shoes were immediately comfortable.

2: All Royal women are typically expected to wear either nude or black tights when they are out on official engagements as part of their role as an official working Member of the Royal Family, if they are wearing a skirt or dress.

Though this isn’t written down as an official rule, it is the expectation that female royals like Princess Anne and the Princess of Wales wear skirts or dresses instead of trousers, presumably to maintain expected standards of royal “decency,” even if it’s warm outside. 

Wearing tights was a common practice by Queen Elizabeth II, so it’s likely that the royal women in the family are simply following her lead.

3: Though they are celebrities in a similar way as actors and singers are, the Royal Family aren’t allowed to do one of the things most famous people do on a regular basis, which is sign autographs. The Princess of Wales and King Charles have actually confessed to members of the public on numerous occasions that they are not "permitted" to sign autographs when meeting fans.

It is suspected that the Royals - being the world-famous figures they are - are not allowed to sign their names due to the risk of forgery it could present.