- Britain's Queen Elizabeth is the longest reigning monarch alive.
- When she's not busy representing the country at official royal engagements, Her Majesty is known to be quite the rule breaker.
- Insider has rounded up every time the Queen has broken her own royal protocol.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Queen Elizabeth II is the longest reigning monarch alive, which means she has plenty of experience when it comes to breaking the rules.
Of course, Her Majesty's job involves abiding by certain protocols, especially when she's representing the country abroad or at official royal events.
Occasionally, though, the royal is able to relax and let her hair down.
The Queen has been known to ignore protocol from time to time. For instance, she allowed Meghan Markle to join the family for Christmas before she was married to Prince Harry, and she also enjoys a glass of whiskey with her personal chef every Christmas.
Below, Insider has gathered the most significant royal protocol rules Her Majesty has breached over the years.
She embraced former First Lady Michelle Obama.
The first rule of royal protocol is never to touch a member of the royal family.
When meeting Queen Elizabeth, the public are advised to simply curtsy or bow their heads.
However, when Michelle Obama met the Queen in 2009, not only did she break the rules by wrapping an arm around Her Majesty, but the royal returned the favour and placed her own hand on Obama's back.
Obama opened up about the encounter in her 2018 memoir, "Becoming," writing that the Queen was happy to break from the norm.
"If I hadn't done the proper thing at Buckingham Palace, I had at least done the human thing," she wrote.
She added: "I daresay the Queen was okay with it, too, because when I touched her, she only pulled closer, resting a gloved hand lightly on the small of my back."
She let Meghan Markle stay for Christmas, even though she wasn't yet married to Prince Harry.
Prince Harry proposed to Meghan Markle in November 2017. The following month, Markle joined the royal family at the Queen's Sandringham Estate for Christmas.
Her Majesty also reportedly broke from this rule again by inviting another non-royal, Markle's mother, Doria, the following year.
Her Majesty shares a drink with the royal family's chef every Christmas.
According to former royal chef Darren McGrady, the Sandringham House dining room is strictly off limits to non-royals.
However, the Queen makes an exception at Christmas, and invites the royal chef to have a drink with the family.
"Right before the Christmas buffet, the senior chef on duty goes into the dining room and carves the rib roast or turkey or ham and once he's done, Her Majesty presents the chef with a glass of whiskey and they toast," McGrady told the Mirror.
"That's the only time the chef goes into the dining room and has a glass of whiskey with the royal family. It's one of the chef's favorite traditions."
She reportedly let Kate Middleton take photographs during her first trip to Balmoral.
It's no secret that the Duchess of Cambridge is a photography buff.
She became the first royal to take the official photographs of her children, which she shares with the public on each of their birthdays.
Earlier this year, the Queen made Middleton patron of the Royal Photographic Society — so it's not hard to believe Her Majesty allowed her to take out the camera at her Scottish vacation home.
According to royal biographer Katie Nicholl, the royal "went out of her way" to make Middleton feel welcome during her first trip to Balmoral in 2009, back when she was just dating Prince William.
"Until now the Queen had met Kate only fleetingly at the wedding of Peter and Autumn Phillips, but she went out of her way to make her feel welcome, giving her permission to take pictures at Balmoral — a true gift to a photographer, with its turreted and Gothic-inspired architecture," Nicholl wrote in the biography, "Kate: The Future Queen."
"As a woman who has lived her entire life in the public eye, the Queen rarely lets her guard down, and very few apart from her family and closest friends get to see the real Elizabeth," she added.
The Queen has been known to accept flowers from her fans.
Laura-Ann Barr, an Instagram influencer from Belfast, attended one of the Queen's Buckingham Palace garden parties earlier this year.
Barr told People how the Queen accepted a bouquet of flowers from her when they met at the party — even though she was told by guards that she wouldn't be able to.
"They did inform me that unfortunately she would not stop to accept them as it's not protocol and if I'm lucky her lady-in-waiting might spot them and accept them on her behalf. I think they were very shocked when it happened," said Barr.
She reportedly told Kate and William to invite whoever they wanted to their royal wedding.
According to royal biographer Marcia Moody, William was presented a guest list of hundreds of people with important connections to the royal family.
However, Moody says his grandmother "told him to tear up the list, invite his friends and start from there."
Her Majesty is rumored to have attended a funeral earlier this year.
According to Cheat Sheet, it's a known rule that the Queen doesn't attend funerals, so that her presence doesn't distract from the "solemn occasion at hand."
However, an exception was made for the Queen's former housekeeper, Annette Wilkin, who passed away in May 2019.
Although Buckingham Palace never commented on the claims, royal sources said that she would be in attendance.
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