This is the nickname the royal family uses for Queen Elizabeth

Meeting your in laws for the first time is always daunting, but it must have been ten times worse for Meghan Markle. Her family in law is the royal family, after all! The royal wedding between her and Prince Harry is a little while ago now and they’ve come back from their honeymoon already as well. Last weekend, Meghan had her first outing with the Queen, who’s Harry’s grandmother.

This is what she’ll be allowed to call the Queen.

Family in law

While Meghan is still new to the family, she has to address Queen Elizabeth the same way everybody else has to; with ‘Your Majesty’. They don’t know each other very well yet, but after their first outing together they’ll probably be a little closer already. It did seem like they had a good time, even though it was clear Meghan was not yet feeling completely at ease with the royal protocols.

Nickname

According to royalty expert Ingrid Seward, bystanders can hear by the way Meghan addresses Queen Elizabeth how close they really are. Right now, Meghan probably addresses her with ‘Your Majesty’, but in the near future this will likely change to ‘M’am’ (short for ‘madame’). If they get really close, the still slightly formal ‘m’am’ might change to ‘mama’. It’s been said that Princess Diana called her mother in law ‘mama’ as well.

Family

The royals love nicknames and nicknames are pretty normal in England. Apparently, the queen was very close to Diana, since Diana was allowed to call her ‘mama’. Royal children call their mother ‘mummy’, which is what Prince Charles still calls his mother as well. William and Harry call their grandmother ‘Granny’, and her great-grandchildren call her ‘Gan-Gan’. It’s been said that Queen Elizabeth’s husband, Prince Philip, calls her ‘Cabbage’, and she calls him ‘The Hun’. Cute, right?

Read more: This is the dish chefs are not allowed to prepare for Queen Elizabeth

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Source: Good Housekeeping | Image: video still