Idioms about Royalty for a Royal Wedding
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?
- a cat may look like a king – someone of low status still has rights
- 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
- a royal pain – an extremely annoying/tedious person or thing
- beauty queen – the winner of a beauty contest
- crowning glory – the best/most notable aspect of something
- drama queen – someone who responds to situations in a melodramatic manner
- fit for a king/queen – of very high quality
- jewel in the crown – the most valuable or successful part of something
- king’s ransom – a large amount of money
- kingdom come – the afterlife
- on the (porcelain) throne – using the toilet
- Prince Charming – the name of a fairy tale hero that used to describe an ideal man who is both handsome and of good character
- queen bee – a woman with a dominant position in a group or sphere
- royal road to – an easy way of attaining something
- the customer is king – the customer’s satisfaction is the highest priority
- 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
- till/until kingdom come – forever
- to be the king/queen of something – to be the best at something
- to build castles in the air – to daydream about unattainable things
- to court someone – to flatter or flirt with someone with the hope of winning their favour.
- to crown it all – introducing the final event in a series of either very fortunate or very unfortunate events
- to give the royal treatment – to treat or care for someone very well
- to hold court – to be surrounded by admirers and the centre of attention
- to live like a king/queen – to live in great comfort and luxury
- 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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King, Idioms, Horse
