.um.... I think it is like a kid sticking his fingers into a plug....
if you dont want a shock, dont do it - but of course it is a free country
so that if you doan wanna curtsye to the queen dont go there.
but if you are in the queue, there 's a whole bit you have to cope with - she in tiara, red carpet, cucumber sarndwiches
But in the long term I agree protocol must change - one of the first things George V did was scrap levees.
and the first thing Edw VII did was to give orders that John Browns room was to be emptied and the furniture burnt.