Marrying into the British Royal family may seem like a fairytale come to life, especially given how beautiful and elaborate the wedding ceremony between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was earlier this year, but there are a few sacrifices that need to be made a long the way.
In fact, there's a pretty long list of rules that Meghan must follow now that she's officially part of the family, and not all of the traditions make a whole lot of sense. For instance, she's not allowed to take any selfies, run her own independent social media account, sign autographs for fans, wear dark nail polish, miniskirts or wedges - amongst a dozen other rules she must follow.
Over the last sixteen days, the recently-wed couple have been on a tour of Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand. Now that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have completed their trip (which, all in all, included an astounding 76 engagements), it has been revealed that she's been breaking one of the etiquette rules - according to an expert on the matter.
An obvious change from the usual etiquette is how both Harry and Meghan have been giving huge hugs to children and adults throughout the tour, but Royal etiquette expert William Hanson has revealed that Meghan has one additional habit which is, according to him, "unprofessional" and "too relaxed".
This comes after the pair visited Courtenay Creative, which runs programmes for young people to get into film, where the Duchess wore a white tuxedo dress with pockets - which she made use of. Hanson told the Daily Mail:
“We know that Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are pioneering a new, relaxed, tactile branch of monarchy but having hands in the pocket is a step too far.
“There is good casual and there is bad casual. Placing hands in the pocket is too relaxed and unprofessional, however dressed down Prince Harry and his wife may have been.”
I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure most of us wouldn't think of it as "unprofessional" to put your hands in your pocket, especially when you look as good as Meghan did that day. "Will the world end?" Hanson continued. "No. It is just a small blip in Meghan’s usually delightful manners that can be easily corrected for future engagements.”
Additionally, body language expert Judi James explained that this was a habit that both Harry and Prince Charles indulge in, and it's only notable as Meghan is the only female member of the royal family to do so.
“The classic reason for this very common gesture is that it signals a subliminal desire to hide, especially when the hands are shoved deep into the pockets," Judi told OK. “It also helps get over the common problem most of us suffer from, which is not really knowing what to do with our hands when we know people are looking at us."
Hopefully, this isn't actually a huge deal within the family itself, and they can let this minor change in etiquette go by. After all, why not use the pockets she's got?