Royal fans have shared footage of Princess Diana's deep reverential curtsy when greeting a European monarch in the 1980s to social media, attracting over 2 million views in 24 hours, after Meghan Markle caused controversy back in December for appearing to mock the gesture during her Netflix docuseries.
Meghan's dramatic description of her first royal curtsy on the show Harry & Meghan, which aired in December 2022, brought the duchess a wave of backlash after she explained her initial thoughts that being asked to curtsy to Queen Elizabeth II was a "joke."
In a retelling of her first curtsy to the queen, Meghan performed a deep medieval style bow for Netflix viewers which some British commentators claimed was a mark of disrespect towards the country's customs and to Queen Elizabeth herself.
Though Meghan has performed numerous respectful curtsies in public, a number of which were made just three months before the Netflix show debuted, during the mourning events for the late queen, social media users created a number of viral videos and posts highlighting the curtsies of other royal family members, including Kate, the Princess of Wales, and Princess Diana.
Uploaded to TikTok by user remembering.diana, on July 17, the new viral video showing Diana performing a deep curtsy to the then King Juan Carlos of Spain in 1987 has been viewed over 2.5 million times in just 24 hours.
In the archive footage, Diana is shown performing her curtsy at a meeting with the monarch alongside her then husband, Prince Charles (now King Charles III), after the couple paid an official visit to Spain.
Captioned "Princess Diana always dropping the deepest curtsies," the clip has received in excess of 350,000 likes and over 350 comments so far, many of which have praised the royal for her respectful gesture.
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"At the end of the day, no matter what happened, she respected the royal institution," wrote one TikTok user of the princess.
"She was a real princess," posted another, with a further comment reading: "She was all class."
The British and Spanish royal families have enjoyed a close relationship for a number of generations and are distantly related, after Queen Victoria's granddaughter Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, married King Alfonso XIII of Spain in 1906.
Charles and Diana went on a number of vacations to Spain during their marriage, and spent time with King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia. Their son, now King Filipe of Spain, is also close to members of the British royal family and was photographed at the Wimbledon tennis men's finals on Sunday with Prince William and Kate.
The tradition of royal curtsies dates back centuries but today there is no expectation for members of the public to perform the gesture to members of the royal family in Britain, though some voluntarily chose to do so.
However, curtsies are still performed within the royal family and royal household itself, with female members curtsying to the king and queen. Two curtsies are made each day, first when meeting the king or queen and then again when saying goodbye.
Since the release of Meghan and Harry's Netflix show, increased attention has been paid to the duchess' former curtsies, though since the accession of her father-in-law, King Charles, she has not been seen performing the gesture publicly.
In January 2023, Harry gave his own account of his wife's skill of showing the mark of respect in his memoir, Spare. Writing about Meghan's first curtsy to Queen Elizabeth, he said it was "flawless," going on to note that several other members of his family "complimented Meg on her curtsy. So good! So deep!"
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
