If The Queen Does This, You Have To Stop Eating

It may be no surprise that the British royal family must follow a long list of rules for almost everything in their daily lives. From what they wear to what they eat, there are rules. Some of those guidelines and restrictions can get weird, though. Naturally, the Queen controls many of them. According to Showbiz CheatSheet, heavy starches like potatoes, rice, and pasta aren't normally served for dinner and reserved only for special occasions — instead, chicken, fish, and veggies are nightly go-tos. A couple of other foods she forbids the royal family from eating are shrimp (due to a risk of food poisoning) and garlic, for really no reason at all.

Then there's Queen Elizabeth's purse. In fact, the head of the family practically has an entire coded language dictated by what she does with her handbag (via House Beautiful). Hugo Vickers, a royal historian, explained in the article that there's even a hidden meaning when the Queen simply switches which hand she is using to carry it. Apparently, that innocent move signals that she wants to be saved from her current conversation. There are even ways the Queen uses her purse to signal how events should unfold while at the dinner table.

There are two ways the Queen uses her purse while at the dinner table. If she places her handbag on the floor beside her feet, then it is with a similar intent as to changing which hand is holding the purse. When her purse is placed on the floor, it means she wants a member of the staff to come and save her from a bad conversation, according to the Telegraph. (She clearly must have been caught in too many bad instances of chitchat to have crafted so many artful ways of extracting herself from such situations!)

The other way she uses her purse for a coded message is by placing it on the dinner table. According to Showbiz CheatSheet, when the Queen stops eating everyone else must also be finished with their meal. However, that doesn't always happen in sync. Should someone miss his or her cue to stop eating or ramble on for too long and displease her Majesty, then the Queen may place her handbag on the table. That signals that everything, including eating, must wrap up within the next five minutes. So if you ever find yourself at her table (we can all dream!), be sure to pay close attention to her directives.