student asking question

What does she mean by "royal we"?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

This is what we call the majestic plural! When sovereigns and royalty refer to themselves as the plural "we" instead of "I". The phrase "royal we" is mostly used as a joke. Ex: We, the queen, acknowledge your request. Ex: We're going out for dinner tonight! By "we", I mean just me. Ex: I told my wife, "we need to clean the house". She said, "Who? The royal we? I'm not cleaning today".

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