NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n
Americans and Brits are famously “divided by a common language” \u2014 and when it comes to etiquette, the cultural gap runs even deeper than the ocean between them. From wedding traditions to table settings, the social customs of each country reveal distinct ideas about what\u2019s proper, polite and refined.\n<\/p>\n
Enter William Hanson<\/a>. A social etiquette coach and author of Just Good Manners<\/a> (out May 27 from Simon & Schuster), Hanson has worked with six royal households and built an international reputation as a leading authority on protocol and decorum.\n<\/p>\n Growing up in Bristol in southwest England, William Hanson\u2019s fascination with protocol began at age 12, when his grandmother gave him an etiquette book. By 16, he was already putting that knowledge to use. At Clifton College, his school in western England, he was pulled aside and asked to teach younger students in their weekly life skills class.\n<\/p>\n They had to “learn how to set the tables, and how to deal with guests,\u201d he tells PEOPLE. \u201cAnd they landed on me. I said, \u2018As long as I don\u2019t need to do rugby, then sign me up.\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know then it was a career,” he adds.\n<\/p>\n Today, Hanson observes that while Americans are often eager to embrace what they see as traditional British etiquette, there\u2019s plenty the British could learn from their American counterparts, too.\n<\/p>\n \u201cBrits start off more cynical and work up to enthusiasm, whereas your average American starts off enthusiastic and probably works down to cynical,\u201d Hanson says.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe might come across as cold and aloof to other nations, as we aren\u2019t necessarily\u00a0warm to people we have first met,” he says. “We start by being suspicious until they earn our trust. Whereas Americans are more effusive immediately, which is probably why their hospitality is better than the British. And, while it is a bit over the top, it works.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Etiquette expert William Hanson.<\/p>\n Spencer McPherson<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re more direct in their language. You want to be understood, and you need the message to be heard succinctly. In Britain, we can sometimes over-complicate it,” he continues.\n<\/p>\n He adds, “We can learn from the Americans\u2019 generosity of spirit.\u201d\n<\/p>\n After demonstrating the proper way to host tea and serve cake, he explores the key differences between British and American etiquette \u2014 from evolving traditions to variations in decorum and even table settings.\n<\/p>\n Formal Dining Table Setups Differ Between the U.K. and the U.S. <\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at the Downton Abbey era or when the dining table was popular, we have tended to use straight-edged tables, whereas post-Jacqueline Kennedy, America switched to round tables,\u201d Hanson says. \u201c[The First Lady] changed it at state dinners. They are more sociable, but you have to change the place setting. In Britain, we might have table settings that have nine pieces of cutlery on each side of the plate, measured in line with a ruler, and if you have straight-edged tables, that is going to stay there. But if you have round tables, the cutlery is going to fall off the table.\u201d\n<\/p>\n So, a bread plate, which would normally be on the side aligned to the edge of the table, will be in the northwest corner of the setting in an American table, because the table curves.\n<\/p>\n “Similarly, the American rule is for dessert cutlery to be above the place setting,” he shares.\n<\/p>\n The American style setting has now become the norm in the U.K. \u201cBecause people are tight on space, and I understand why people do that,” Hanson says.\n<\/p>\n Etiquette coach and author William Hanson.<\/p>\n Spencer McPherson<\/p>\n Mastering the Art of State Banquets <\/p>\n If you’re lucky enough to find yourself at a state banquet on either side of the Atlantic (King Charles<\/a> is entertaining French President Emmanuel Macron<\/a> in July), wait until the host, the head of state, starts and finishes their meal as the signal to do the same.\n<\/p>\n “Queen Elizabeth was quite a quick eater\u00a0and used to have a little side salad,” he says. “So, if her visiting head of state was still going strong, she would toy with her side salad to give the guest a few more mouthfuls before she signaled dinner was finished.\u201d\n<\/p>\n