A leading Irish American etiquette expert thinks it would be just dandy if we all bow or curtsy to Prince William and Duchess Kate now they are in New York.
“Americans are not required to bow or curtsy (to the royal family) but they should do so out of respect, ” says Patricia Napier-FitzPatrick, who has a fashionably double-barreled last name. She was speaking to the New York Daily News.
According to her website, Napier-Fitzpatrick is an “internationally-recognized etiquette expert. She is certified in Etiquette and International Protocol, and Adult and Corporate Etiquette by the THE WASHINGTON SCHOOL OF PROTOCOL. Additionally, she is certified in Children’s and Teen Etiquette by THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF PROTOCOL(Caps are hers).
What FitzPatrick knows nothing about clearly is the PROTOCOL LEFT TO US BY IRISH AND AMERICAN HISTORY (Caps are mine).
Americans do not bow to royalty, they shake hands and greet in a friendly and open fashion any foreign-born folk who happen to style themselves as royalty.
The United States is a republic, as enshrined in the constitution where all are equal. We don't do royalty over here much as FitzPatrick might wish otherwise.
FitzPatrick may remember the American revolution which was fought over this very issue. The words of the "Star Spangled Banner" may remind her.
“Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
Not in royalty we trust, or bend the knee to. That is not the American way.
In 1908, in London, at the Olympics, Irish Americans Ralph Rose and Martin Sheridan announced “This flag dips for no earthly king," when the US team paraded past the royal box. Nor should any American bow.
This policy is no reflection on the royal couple who have rescued the monarchy after years of titillation and terrible reviews, especially around the issue of Lady Di’s death.
But we are Americans. FitzPatrick might also remember her ancestral roots and the fight her forefathers over there put up to never have to bow or scrape to a queen, king, prince or princess.
Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, in a much later rendition of the right to be a Republic stated “No glass of mine was ever raised to toast a British queen.”
So FitzPatrick grow a pair, you are not a British ‘subject’ but an American citizen. Give the British royal family the respect they deserve but please no bowing and scraping.
Too many Irish and Americans gave their lives to ensure that you wouldn't have to.
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