Fashionable, witty, and charming, Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece's book 'Manners Begin at Breakfast' schools children on the proper way to behave, from Buckingham Palace to Bali.

While we spend the current moment&nbsp;keeping ourselves and our communities safe and healthy by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/wellness/social-distancing-activities-ideas-stay-home-coronavirus">social distancing</a>, it just may be the perfect time to pick up a few new skills&mdash;or refine your old ones.&nbsp;So if you&#39;re working from home with kids in tow, read them a book with a purpose, such as Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece&#39;s&nbsp;Manners Begin at Breakfast.

There is no question that Marie-Chantal&mdash;the ultra-social, well-coiffed uptown doyenne and wife of&nbsp;Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece&mdash;is an arbiter of good taste,&nbsp;especially when it comes to raising a family. As a mother of five,&nbsp;she&rsquo;s had practice, and her eponymous collection of luxury&nbsp;children&rsquo;s clothing strikes a balance of style and practicality&nbsp;that you won&#39;t find&nbsp;at your local Baby Gap. Now, with the help of&nbsp;renowned pediatrician Dr. Perri Klass, illustrator Lydia Starkey, and fellow supermom <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/tory-burch-interview-nuit-azur-2018-issue-03">Tory Burch</a>, Marie-Chantal has penned&nbsp;Manners Begin at Breakfast, a modern guide for parents to&nbsp;pass along the oft-overlooked art of etiquette.

SEE ALSO:&nbsp;Lili Reinhart, Cameron Dallas, and Jorja Smith are among the exciting talents featured in the Spring 2020 issue of L&rsquo;Officiel USA. Discover the best in fashion, culture, and entertainment this spring by&nbsp;<a href="https://bit.ly/33Vnw7W">downloading your digital copy</a> now.

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Photo via Instagram / @mariechantal22

&ldquo;Our kids eventually become us, and they pick up everything,&nbsp;for better or for worse,&rdquo; Marie-Chantal, wearing a cozy sweater&nbsp;and a long pleated skirt, explains as we sit in her pastel-inflected&nbsp;office on Manhattan&rsquo;s Upper East Side, a space dotted with children&rsquo;s mannequins. &ldquo;So, why not do it for the better, and take&nbsp;time to invest in your kids, and start slow at the very beginning of&nbsp;every day?&rdquo;

Inside the&nbsp;etiquette book, readers will find plenty of classic table manners like utensil use and elbow placement&mdash;they should never be on top&nbsp;of the table, but your forearms can rest on the edge if the situation calls for it. But what sets Marie-Chantal&nbsp;apart from Emily&nbsp;Post is a uniquely forgiving take on modern conveniences, like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/best-instagram-photographers">social media posting</a> (which should be done sparingly and with&nbsp;approval from all parties), proper email formatting, and the&nbsp;omnipresent mobile phone and tablet.

&ldquo;This is not a book to pontificate at all,&rdquo; she claims. &ldquo;There are times when, yes, you have&nbsp;to lean on technology, but I hate nothing more than going to a&nbsp;restaurant and seeing a mother and her kids who bring in the full&nbsp;iPad. Sure, they&rsquo;re having quality time together, but the child is&nbsp;literally glued to a <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/pop%20culture/90s-movies-watch-stream-film">movie</a> in a fancy restaurant.&rdquo;

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With an education that saw her traipsing from&nbsp;Hong Kong to Switzerland to <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/french-girls-instagram-fashion-follow">Paris</a> to New York, Marie-Chantal has filled her etiquette book with&nbsp;lessons that&nbsp;also offer an element of worldliness, from the proper way&nbsp;to use utensils in Chile, where even the most obvious of finger&nbsp;foods should be handled with a fork, to the requirement of a&nbsp;swimming cap in China.&nbsp;

Serving oneself coffee or tea from a butler&rsquo;s tray is up for discussion, too, thanks to a particularly nerve-racking moment experienced by Marie-Chantal during a dinner alongside the <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/film-tv/the-crown-netflix-hair-makeup-olivia-colman">Queen&nbsp;of England</a> and Prince Philip at Windsor Castle. &ldquo;You put your&nbsp;sugar and cream in first, before your coffee, and I found out&nbsp;much later that it&rsquo;s a practice from the Second World War so you&nbsp;don&rsquo;t stain your china,&rdquo; she explains.&nbsp;

But even if you won&rsquo;t be rubbing elbows with royalty, Marie-Chantal argues that there is indeed an irrefutable value to good manners. &ldquo;It opens doors from a young age, and it&rsquo;s not a socioeconomic&nbsp;thing at all,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;Manners cost nothing.&rdquo;&nbsp;

Princess Marie-Chantal Shares Her Tips for Proper Etiquette in 2020

Princess Marie-Chantal Shares Her Tips for Proper Etiquette in 2020

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