How To Drink Tea Like A Royal, According To A Royal Butler

The royal wedding is right around the corner. While there certainly will be a lot of champagne being poured that day, drinking tea is also a big part of the royal family’s day — and there are rules.

Business Insider recently spoke with Grant Harrold, a former royal butler. He says that if you’re a royal there are a few rules for how to drink tea, specifically:

Add milk to your tea after you’re poured it from the tea pot, never before. The whole adding milk before your tea dates back to a time when tea was being consumed out of glasses that would crack if the hotel liquid was poured in first. If you’re using nice china, then tea first is the way to go.

And when it comes to stirring your tea, you want to do so in a back and forth motion rather than a circular one. Harold says that stirring your tea in a circle can “create a storm in a tea cup’ and cause the tea to splash over the sides. It also makes a clinking noise as your spoon hits the side of the glass, which can potentially annoy the other tea party attendees.

And as for that whole pinkies-out myth: Harrold says he has “never seen that happen once,” so keep that pinky tucked away while you’re drinking withe the queen next month.