5 royal rules Kate Middleton has to follow that Meghan Markle can break

Kate Middleton became a full-time working member of the royal family after marrying Prince William in 2011. As William is the eldest son of King Charles III, he and Kate are likely to become the next king and queen of the UK.

Meghan Markle was a full-time working royal for just under two years. She moved to London and became the Duchess of Sussex upon her wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018; by January 2020, the couple had announced their step back from royal duties and relocated to North America.

Due to her more senior position within the family, Kate was always held to a higher standard when it came to royal rules. For example, Kate wasn't allowed to attend Christmas Day celebrations with the royal family until she was married, but Meghan was allowed to attend before she wed Harry. Kate has also been expected to adhere to more royal-style rules, even when Meghan was a senior royal.

But since Meghan quit royal duties, there are even more rules and protocols that she is allowed to break — here are just a few.

It's tradition for the royal family to gather for church on Christmas Day in Sandringham, followed by a walkabout where they meet members of the public. All members of the royal family are usually invited, including those who don't have titles.

However, the royal family's partners are usually not invited unless they're married.

Kate joined for the first time in 2011 after marrying Prince William earlier that year. An exception was seemingly made for Meghan, as she was invited to join the church service after her engagement to Prince Harry in November 2017. They married in May 2018.

Members of the royal family are supposed to remain politically neutral, according to the royal family website, and it's thought to be against protocol for royals to openly discuss politics in public.

Kate likely voted in UK general elections before marrying William, but this would have stopped when she became a member of the royal family as it's thought that royals aren't supposed to vote. Prince Harry appeared to confirm this rule during a televised broadcast unveiling of the 2020 TIME 100 in September 2021, saying he hadn't been able to vote in the UK for his entire life.

Meghan, who was born in the US, became the first member of the British royal family to vote in a US election in 2020, Insider previously reported. In November 2020, Meghan and Harry's charitable foundation Archewell shared a photo of Meghan wearing an "I voted" sticker.

Kate and William have three children: Prince George (born in 2013), Princess Charlotte (born in 2015), and Prince Louis (born in 2018). The couple followed a number of royal baby rules, including taking part in a photo call on the hospital steps after all three births, and a royal christening, for which the babies wore a christening gown that had been handed down for generations of royal babies.

Meghan and Harry broke some of these rules when their first child, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, was born in 2019. They didn't have a photo call at the hospital, but instead invited a few select photographers to Windsor Castle two days after the birth.

By the time their second child, Lilibet Diana, was born in 2021, the couple had already left royal life and the birth was kept completely private. There was no royal photo call, and no public christening. Lilibet's godfather, Tyler Perry, said in the couple's Netflix docuseries that he wouldn't have wanted to be part of a royal christening in the UK.

"I called them back and go, 'Uh, hold on a second — does this mean we gotta go over there and do all of that in church with them and figure all that out? I don't wanna do that,'" he said in the final episode of the series, which revealed he was Lilibet's godfather. "'Maybe we can do a little private ceremony here and let that be that, and if you have to do it there, then that's OK.'"

Meghan has always had a more casual sense of style. Speaking in her Netflix docuseries last year, the duchess said she was in ripped jeans and barefoot when welcoming Kate and William to her home for dinner for the first time in 2017.

But being part of the royal family requires dressing in a more formal manner. Royal ladies are expected to wear hats to formal events during the day, and tiaras to formal evening events, such as state banquets. Meghan was criticized for not wearing a hat to her first royal engagement with the Queen in 2018, with royal correspondent Katie Nicholl telling Glamour that the fashion choice raised eyebrows and was a mistake.

Now that Meghan doesn't attend as many royal events, she is no longer held to the same royal style standards as Kate, who regularly attends engagements across the UK and abroad. For example, Meghan recently said in the docuseries that she would wear neutral colors in the UK because she couldn't wear the same color as the monarch or senior royals. Since leaving the royal family, she has worn more bold colors and more casual outfits.

Meghan Markle declined a fan who asked to take a selfie with her during her first royal walkabout in Nottingham with Prince Harry in December 2017, telling them: "We're not allowed to do selfies," according to royal author Victoria Murphy, who wrote about the exchange on Twitter at the time.

Meghan has broken this rule since quitting royal duties. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, she took a selfie with members of the public during a visit to Germany while attending an Invictus Games event in September 2022.

However, it's worth noting that Kate has also broken this rule. During a royal engagement in Leeds, England, in January 2023, Kate took a selfie with a nervous fan, and she reassured him by saying: "Please don't worry, it's okay. We all get nervous," as shown in a video posted to Twitter by GB News' royal reporter Cameron Walker.