Why No One Gets to Go to Bed Before the Queen — and the One Royal Who Always Broke That Rule

Meghan Markle may want to rethink the whole being a royal thing now that she’s feeling the impact of all their bizarre rules.

Now that Meghan is officially the Duchess of Sussex, she needs to live by a few rigid guidelines that all senior members of the royal family must abide by. For example, nobody in the royal family is allowed to eat shellfish, in case they have an allergic reaction. Nobody is allowed to give out autographs, in case someone tries to fake their signature later. But perhaps the worst rule of all is the fact that absolutely nobody, not even Prince Philip, is allowed to go to bed before the Queen.

According to Sir William Heseltine, one of the Queen’s former private secretaries, it’s considered bad form to go to bed before Her Majesty.

“Nobody felt it right to go to bed before the Queen did,” Sir William revealed in an interview for the book "The Royals in Australia."

Of course, not everyone is a fan of this rule. According to Sir William, Princess Diana truly struggled to stay up as late as the Queen, who apparently can be quite the night owl.

“For Diana the long royal evenings were agony. There’d be an hour or so in the sitting room of everyone sitting around making conversation,” he said. “And Diana was driven to such extremes that she’d excuse herself and go to bed, which was thought to be rather bad form, going to bed before the Queen.”

So just how late does Meghan now have to stay up? According to Zarife Hardy, a coach from the Australian School of Etiquette who spoke to Harper’s Bazaar, it’s way later than you may think. "Guests cannot go to bed before the Queen, who reportedly tucks in at midnight," he revealed.

As a reminder, this woman is 92 years old, yet she still stays up later than you. So, sorry Meghan, hopefully you at least get to sleep in late most days instead.