The first thing the new Duchess of Cambridge will have noticed about her altered status is that the Palace policemen have started saluting her.\nIn the state rooms of Buckingham Palace on Friday afternoon, female servants began to curtsey and grizzled retainers in their 100-year-old livery bowed their heads low.
\nOne former courtier said: \u2018At first she\u2019ll be embarrassed by all this courtly attention from people she barely knows. But she\u2019ll soon come to realise that it\u2019s not what she wants, but what everybody else wants that matters when it comes to people showing their respect.\u2019
\nAs a brand new royal duchess, and wife of the second in line to the throne, Kate will need to bone up on who curtseys to whom.
\nIn case nobody\u2019s told her yet, here\u2019s a rough guide to how things work.
\nIf the Queen comes into the room, it\u2019s simple enough \u2013 Kate should curtsey to her.
\nIf Camilla appears and is with Charles, William\u2019s wife should also curtsey to her.
\nBut if Charles is absent but William is present, then Kate outranks Camilla, who should \u2013 in theory \u2013 curtsey to Kate. This is because William outranks Camilla in terms of the lineage, which means that effectively so does his wife while he is present.
\nMeanwhile, it has emerged that Prince William would prefer that his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, be called \u201cPrincess Catherine\u201d, officials said.
\nA commoner by birth, Kate Middleton was given the title Her Royal Highness Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, after her marriage to William, the second-in-line to the throne. The prince\u2019s spokesman said, \u201cWilliam was \u201chonoured\u201d to become the Duke of Cambridge.\u201d
\nBut he let it be known that he would prefer to remain Prince William and his wife to become \u201cPrincess Catherine\u201d, according to the Daily Telegraph.
\nThe Buckingham Palace said, \u201cIf people wanted to call Catherine \u2018princess\u2019, they were welcome to do so.\u201d
\nPaddy Harverson, the communications secretary of Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, said, \u201cThe public may be encouraged to use the names Prince William and Princess Catherine.\u201d
\nWhen Prince Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005, she took the title \u201cDuchess of Cornwall\u201d, while Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones, who married Charles\u2019 brother Prince Edward in 1999, was given the title \u201cCountess of Wessex\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"