7 Times the Royals Completely Ignored Their Own Rules

The royal family is built on centuries of tradition. There are titles, curtsies, dress codes, greetings, and about a thousand unwritten rules that everyone is magically expected to know. That said, “protocol” is not always as dramatic as people make it out to be.

Here are seven times the royals have bent tradition just enough to get people talking.

Harry and Meghan ditched “never complain, never explain”

The phrase “never complain, never explain” has been linked to the royal family since the time Queen Elizabeth II was the matriarch, even though its origins go back much further. The phrase refers to the royals behaving inappropriately without feeling the need to justify their actions to the public. They kept calm and carried on until Prince Harry and Meghan Markle said, “Screw that.”

After basically ditching their royal duties in 2020, they gave their huge Oprah Winfrey interview, where they talked openly about palace life, family tensions, and why they felt they had to run away. That whole interview was the opposite of the family motto, regardless of whether people saw it as brave.