etiquette

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people. -1 Peter 2:9 (King James Bible)

I experienced a Don Quixote moment when I met Laurent Frideres, the prince of Luxembourg.

Luxembourg is the only remaining sovereign Grand Duchy in the world, which means that in the eyes of most people Laurent cannot really be a prince in rank nor power, but his lush Oxbridge accent with its perfectly enunciated vowels and clipped consonants, his reserve, and even just the rakish way he stands while taking a picture make him so.

I thought of Laurent while researching on protocol for the recent visit of the King of Swaziland and his 13th wife to the Philippines. Here's one question: when a Filipino citizen (say, Sarah Gonzales in Caregiver) meets royal personages, is it correct to give physical obeisance to them by bowing or curtsying?

No, it is not. Under the laws of our land, sovereignty resides in us as a people. Bending the knee is the traditional gesture of an inferior to a superior: hence, we may kneel before God or whatever we worship. The curtsy is a form of the gesture of adoring a sovereign; other kingdoms have their subjects touch their foreheads to the ground or kiss the ground as royalty passes. As a democracy, we follow the lead of the historian Callisthenes and his fellow Greeks, who rejected Alexander the Great's proposal that his subjects prostrate themselves before him. Historically, this matter was settled twice: in 1521, by Lapu-Lapu during the battle of Mactan and again, in 1896, by revolutionaries who fought to free our land from subjugation to the Spanish crown.

What then is the proper way for Filipinos to treat royalty? We do so with the dignity and respect we naturally show to heads of state and other foreign officials, that is, by shaking their hand.

For a simple refresher on world etiquette, read Social Skills: A Modern Guide to Global Living by John Robert Powers Manila (Php 450).