A former UK parliament member close to the royal family has shared some rules one must follow when having a meal with The Queen.
We don't blame you if you expect some really formal, strict rules, but the rules Her Majesty lays down at dinner time are pretty understandable.
Gyles Brandreth was a Member of Parliament for the city of Chester from 1992 - 1997. He is also a writer who has published a book on the marriage between the Queen and Prince Phillip, and said the late Phillip showed a lot of friendliness towards him.
He once appeared on ITV’s ‘This Morning’ show and shared how The Queen likes dinner guests to compose themselves during dinner time at Buckingham palace.
“The Queen is my role mode in all things,” he started.
“She likes a formal, a fairly formal meal. It doesn’t mean to say you have to have a napkin. But you do have to sit at the table nicely and you certainly mustn’t eat with your mouth open.”
So no phones at the table and you have to chew with your mouth closed - those are completely normal rules!
Other rules that Queen Elizabeth enforces are a little more unique to the royal lifestyle.
For example, one piece of cutlery is banned from the dining table and has been for over 120 years.
Queen Elizabeth’s grandfather, Kind Edward VII - who ruled from 1901 to his death in 1910 - banned fish knives from royal meals, as he believed they were too lowly for his family.
Thomas Blaikie shared the rule in his book ‘What A Thing To Say To The Queen’: “There have been no fish knives in royal palaces since Edward VII denounced them as ‘very common’, he wrote.
