Idioms about Royalty for a Royal Wedding

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With the birth of Prince Louis last month, and Prince Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle just a few days away, we decided it was the perfect time to look at idioms about royalty.

An idiom is a combination of words that has a figurative meaning separate from the actual definitions of the words used. With an estimated 25,000 idioms, it’s no wonder English is such a difficult language to learn!

Here are the royalty-related idioms we managed to come up with – can you think of any others?

  1. a cat may look like a king – someone of low status still has rights
  2. a horse, a horse, a kingdom for my horse – a quotation from Shakespeare’s Richard III that is sometimes repeated ironically when someone needs something unimportant
  3. a royal pain – an extremely annoying/tedious person or thing
  4. beauty queen – the winner of a beauty contest
  5. crowning glory – the best/most notable aspect of something
  6. drama queen – someone who responds to situations in a melodramatic manner
  7. fit for a king/queen – of very high quality
  8. jewel in the crown – the most valuable or successful part of something
  9. king’s ransom – a large amount of money
  10. kingdom come – the afterlife
  11. on the (porcelain) throne – using the toilet
  12. Prince Charming – the name of a fairy tale hero that used to describe an ideal man who is both handsome and of good character
  13. queen bee – a woman with a dominant position in a group or sphere
  14. royal road to – an easy way of attaining something
  15. the customer is king – the customer’s satisfaction is the highest priority
  16. the emperor’s new clothes/the emperor has no clothes – a reference to a Hans Christian Anderson tale which describes a situation in which someone believes in the importance of something that is worthless
  17. till/until kingdom come – forever
  18. to be the king/queen of something – to be the best at something
  19. to build castles in the air – to daydream about unattainable things
  20. to court someone – to flatter or flirt with someone with the hope of winning their favour.
  21. to crown it all – introducing the final event in a series of either very fortunate or very unfortunate events
  22. to give the royal treatment – to treat or care for someone very well
  23. to hold court – to be surrounded by admirers and the centre of attention
  24. to live like a king/queen – to live in great comfort and luxury
  25. to lord it over – to behave as if you are more important/know better than someone else

Try our British Nobility spelling list?

If you enjoyed this post, why not check out our other articles about idioms?

 


15 May 2018
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