if you don't subscribe to all that flummery then don't put yourself in a position on where you have to take part.
I certainly won't/don't, Laurie! When I was (briefly) a student nurse in the late 60s, a minor royal person came to open a new wing of the hospital where I was training. Somebody in admin had the bright idea that all the first year students should be assembled on the steps at the main entrance to welcome her. We were told to stand quietly with our hands behind our backs unless The Guest (I think it was the Duchess of Kent but memory fades...) spoke to us, in which case, we must do a full curtsey before responding. Without even thinking about it, I shrieked, "
I'm not curtseying to anybody. No way". It really was an instinctive reaction and got me some startled looks. I was then firmly told that, if that was really how I felt, my presence was not required. I spent the afternoon of The Visit practising head bandages and felt I'd missed nothing!
Thinking about this now, I think what bothers me most isn't that some people are willing to bow or curtsey but that there are are others who think it's OK to be bowed/curtseyed
to.