Princess Diana's reverential curtsy has become the focus of a new viral video after a rise in social media discourse about the gesture w...
Princess Diana's reverential curtsy has become the focus of a new viral video after a rise in social media discourse about the gesture was sparked by daughter-in-law Meghan Markle in 2022.
Several members of the royal family have had their past and present curtsies analyzed online, including Diana, Princess Anne, the Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte and Meghan.
It comes after the duchess highlighted the gesture, which sees female members of the royal family bend the knee and bow their head to the king or queen when greeting and saying goodbye, in her Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, released in December 2022.
Meghan earned criticism for suggesting she thought being asked to curtsy to her then-boyfriend's grandmother (Queen Elizabeth II) when meeting her for the first time was a "joke."
The duchess also performed an exaggerated bow when recounting her first meeting with Queen Elizabeth, which though likely an attempt at self-deprecation was interpreted by some commentators as disrespectful towards the queen and British traditions.
In the latest curtsy compilation video to go viral on TikTok, posted by user remembering.diana on December 30, a number of clips of Princess Diana performing the gesture to world royals has won praise from fans.
One clip shows the princess curtsying to ex-King Constantine II of Greece, who prior to his death in 2023 was a close friend and distant relation to members of the British royal family.
Another piece of footage also showed the princess curtsying to King Juan Carlos I of Spain, who abdicated the throne in 2014 amid a financial scandal.
And another showed Diana performing two elegant curtsies to the emperor and empress of Japan during a visit to the country in 1995, two years before her death at the age of 36, following a high speed Paris car crash.
The TikTok video has received over 200,000 views on the social media platform so far, and in excess of 18,000 likes and numerous comments, many of which have praised the princess and her curtsy.
"Her curtsy was flawless. I would've tapped over a couple of times," wrote one user.
"That's how you do it. She's the only one who could show the new royals how to do it properly," posted another, with a further user adding: "She had BALANCE!"
Public interest in Princess Diana and her life story was revived in late 2023, when Netflix's hit royal drama, The Crown, presented a fictionalized version of her final days and the car crash that ended her life.
Played by actress, Elizabeth Debicki, the princess' relationship with Dodi Fayed and circumstances surrounding their deaths on August 31, 1997, were the main focus of the first installment of The Crown's final season.
