If the royal dramas of the past two weeks have proven anything, its that no matter what’s going on, members of the royal family know how to look poised under pressure.
It turns out, they have a few tricks up their sleeves for pulling it off: According to etiquette expert Myka Meier, 37, members of the family have a handful of signature, go-to positions they revert to when they’re in the public eye to ensure they look composed, confident, and in control.
Myka covers the positions in her new book, ‘Modern Etiquette Made Easy: A Five-Step Method to Mastering Etiquette,’ and broke them down one-by-one for DailyMail.com.
Like a lady! The Duchess of Cambridge tends to employ the ‘Duchess Slant’ while sitting (pictured in 2012)
Learn more: Myka Meier outlines these positions and more in her new book, ‘Modern Etiquette Made Easy: A Five-Step Method to Mastering Etiquette,’ which is out today
The Duchess Slant
By now, most people are familiar with the Duchess Slant, a sitting position favored by the Duchess of Cambridge, the Duchess of Sussex, and Princess Diana before them.
Kate, in particular, is often seen sitting this way, holding her knees together and tilting her legs diagonally.
‘It is the perfect sitting pose for when a camera is shooting directly in front of you because, by slightly slanting the knees to create a zig-zag effect when wearing a dress or skirt, your legs are angled so that the camera only shoots the sides of your legs and protects your modesty,’ Myka, who coined the term, explains.
The position is particularly popular for female royals who find themselves sitting on chairs on stage or other raised platforms, where it would be easy to expose more than one might mean to.
What’s more, it has a lengthening effect on legs, especially when the shoulders are pulled back with perfect posture and the knees are held firmly together.
The pose: She keeps her knees and ankles together and tilts her legs sideways to create a diagonal line (pictured left in 2016, right in 2012)
A classic: Princess Diana was known to sit that way as well (pictured in 1992)
The Cambridge Cross
The Duchess of Cambridge has mastered a few positions that keep her looking like a pro.
The Cambridge Cross comes in when she has a while in front of a crowd.
‘When sitting for long periods of time, this is the go-to position for the Duchess of Cambridge, as it tends to be the most comfortable,’ says Myka. ‘Knees and ankles stay together while crossing at the ankle, with the heels of the shoes touching the floor.’
Switching it up: Kate will also use the ‘Cambridge Cross’ when she is sitting for a long time in front of a crowd (pictured in 2012)
‘Knees and ankles stay together while crossing at the ankle, with the heels of the shoes touching the floor,’ Myka explains (pictured left in 2012 and right in 2018)
The Cambridge Carry
When she’s standing, Kate turns to what Myka calls the Cambridge Carry, keeping her posture perfect and her hands holding a bag — usually a clutch — in front.
‘The Duchess uses this position when walking, standing, and speaking with others,’ Myka explains. ‘Toes are aligned, shoulders are still rolled back, and hands are in front of the body.
‘Instead of clenching fists or intertwining fingers together, which sometimes can appear as if you are tense by doing so, she is holding a handbag in front of her.
‘If gives people who are not sure what to do with hands something to hold onto.’
Bring in the props! The ‘Cambridge Carry’ is how Myka describes this standing pose favored by Kate (pictured in 2018)
Proper: The Duchess will stand with perfect posture, her toes aligned, and she’ll hold her bag in front of her (pictured left in 2016, right in 2019)
Sussex Slant
Meanwhile, the Duchess of Sussex — who is keeping her title after she and Prince Harry came to an agreement with the Queen over financial independence — has her own favored sitting position.
‘When sitting, The Duchess of Sussex’s go-to position is one knee over the other,’ says Myka. ‘The key, however, is that knees and ankles stay together and toes point forward.’
This position also tends to work better with skirts that are knee-length or longer, since crossing legs can make a skirt or dress ride up the thigh.
Though Meghan raised some eyebrows when she was photographed sitting that way early in her marriage to Prince Harry, she’s hardly the first royal to cross her legs: Princess Diana, The Queen, and Princess Margaret have all been snapped sitting with legs crossed as well.
Leggy: Meghan Markle, meanwhile, likes to cross her legs in a move that Myka calls the ‘Sussex Slant’ (pictured in 2018)
Elegant: Like in the Duchess Slant, her legs are mostly held tightly together and tilted to the side (pictured left in 2016, right in 2018)
Not so shocking: The Queen herself and her sister Princess Margaret (pictured here with King George VI in 1946) have been known to sit with their legs crossed
Flashback: Princess Diana was also pictured crossing her legs at times (pictured left and right in 1997)
The Sussex Stance
The Duchess of Sussex likes to stand this way when she’s posing for photos — and has been doing it since her Hollywood days.
First, her chin is parallel to the floor, and her shoulders rolled back.
She keeps her legs together, with one foot crossed over the other and her toes pointed toward the camera in a cylindrical shape to elongate her figure.
Finally, her hands are gently relaxed, not clenched, at her sides, and they don’t go on her hips.
Gives good face: When standing, Meghan likes to cross her ankles and keep her arms at her sides — a pose she perfected during her Hollywood days (pictured left in 2016, right in 2013)
The Queen’s Pose
Unlike her granddaughters-in-law, Her Majesty the Queen doesn’t typically cross legs or ankles when she’s sitting these days — though she still keeps things perfectly prim and proper.
Her go-to sitting pose is especially perfect for anyone who is petite — she was 5’4″ at the time of her coronation but has likely shrunk a bit with age — and involves keeping the knees together in front with both feet planted firmly on the ground.
‘This is a simple and elegant way to sit with knees and ankles together, with heels touching the floor.’
No-nonsense: The Queen most frequently keeps her feet firmly on the floor with her legs and ankles un-crossed (pictured in 2018)
Her favorite: She did so while sitting front row at London Fashion Week in 2018
The Duke’s Demeanor
While it seems obvious that the ladies of the family have some tricks for avoiding caught-on-camera wardrobe malfunctions, the men have their own tried-and-true stances as well.
When the Duke of Cambridge stands for photos, he reverts to what Myka calls the ‘Duke’s Demeanor.’
‘Stand tall, feet firmly planted side by side and his hands in what I call a double clasp — notice the fingers are not intertwined but instead one hand is over the top of the other hand with both the back of his hands facing the camera and fingers out of view,’ she says.
The men have poses, too! The Duke of Cambridge often stands with his feet aligned and his hands clasped in front of him, palms facing inward
The Royal Sitting Pose
The male royals often sit the same way, with one knee cross over the other, with the sole of the shoe facing downward.
This is so that people can only see their beautifully polished shoes, and not the dirty bottoms.
They also tend to avoid using arm rests.
Dignified: Often when he is pictured sitting, he crosses his legs with the soles of his shoes facing the floor
Other royal tricks
Myka also employs some other favored tricks of the royals, which she breaks down on Instagram.
The expert: Myka trained in London under a former member of the Queen’s royal household and founded The Plaza Hotel’s Finishing Program
For example, when carrying a handbag in the cook of one’s elbow, the forearm shouldn’t be held straight up with a floppy wrist.
Instead, the handle of the bag should rest on the inner forearm, which should be held firm with the hand making a loose fist.
And when exiting a car, it’s best to take a page out of Princess Diana’s book: The people’s princess would first swing her legs out of the car, knees held firmly together.
With her feet planted on the ground, she’d hold her clutch directly over her chest to step out — at once ensuring that photographers couldn’t snap anything up her skirt or down her blouse, even unintentionally.