If you thought being part of the Royal Family was plain sailing, think again.
Yeah they’ve got lots of money, have grand houses and pretty much get to do whatever they want but that doesn’t mean there’s no rules.
The term ‘Queen’s English’ gets thrown around quite a lot – perhaps now more than ever – but as it turns out The House of Windsor can’t use certain words under any circumstances… we mean like ever!
Speaking to The Mirror, Kate Fox, a social anthropologist and author of Watching the English, gives an intimate look into the vocal do’s and don’ts of the Royal Family.
Here are the words that The Queen, Phil, Kate, Wills, the ginger one and co can’t use or say.
1. Pardon
We’ll start off with a weird one shall we? Using the word pardon for us ‘normies’ is pretty polite and very expected. If someone’s in your way or you fail to hear what someone’s saying to you it’s fairly routine to use the word ‘pardon’.
Not for The Royal Family though, according to Mamamia the use of ‘pardon’ is ‘forbidden’. So if you ever meet Prince Philip at a charity engagement and he’s whispering something funny in your ear don’t say ‘pardon’, because that would be rude. Instead you say ‘sorry’ or ‘sorry, what?’.
If in doubt just nod and smile…
2. Toilet
Another strange one right? You’d think that if you were in Buckingham Palace and nature started calling, you’d be okay to ask to use the ‘toilet’, it’s far more appropriate than saying ‘I need the bog’, ‘where’s the loo?’ or ‘holy shit your majesty I need to take a dump where’s your crapper?’.
Turns out ‘toilet’ is a French word by origin (who knew eh?), so maybe it has something to do with The Royal Family’s supposed German heritage, or they’re just keeping up that whole English-versus-the-French vibe. But if you need to go relieve yourself, you actually use the term ‘loo’.
3. Perfume
How do you compliment one’s smell in the first place without looking like a complete weirdo. Unless you know the person in question it’s an odd thing to say even when they’re coated in Chanel No. 5.
It’s probably more difficult for The Royal who can’t use the word ‘perfume’, instead they use the word ‘scent’.
So it would be ‘I like your scent’. Which doesn’t make you sound like a murderer at all if you say it out loud…
4. Tea
‘Tea’, it’s what the British Empire was ‘founded on’, but according to Kate Fox, one way to irk The Queen is by referring to “your evening meal as ‘Tea'”.
Apparently you don’t invite her for ‘tea’, that’ll get you’re invitation thrown in The Royal trash can, instead you invite for her for ‘dinner’ or ‘supper’.
5. Lounge
After long hard day of meeting your Royal subjects, cutting ribbons and waving at people all her majesty wants to do is sit back and relax… but not in her ‘lounge’. She prefers to call it her ‘sitting room’ or ‘dining room’.
6. Posh
If there’s one thing The Royal Family is, it’s posh.
Only you can’t say that word. It’s because they’re modest or they just want to be seen as a ‘normal family’, they’d just prefer you’d refer to them as ‘smart’.
