The Duchess of Sussex confessed she was secretly clueless about royal protocol when she first began dating Prince Harry in 2017, despite appearing to immediately pick up the fashion and curtsying protocols.
One time she was unable to hide her confusion was during her first official engagement with the late Queen Elizabeth, four weeks after her royal wedding in May 2018.
The pair had travelled by Royal Train to Runcorn Station and departed by car for the Mersey Gateway Bridge, where they met with architects, planners and community representatives. The milestone outing marked Meghan’s first royal engagement without her new husband.
Despite sharing a private joke, Meghan’s flawless appearance hit a bump when she was spotted hesitating as she followed Harry’s grandmother to their car, unsure whether she should be embarking ahead or behind the monarch.
“What is your preference?” she reportedly asked the Queen, to which she ordered: “You go first.” Meghan quickly sprang into action, moving past the royal, who was dressed in a lime green outfit by her favourite designer Stewart Parvin and a hat by Rachel Trevor-Morgan, to climb into the car.
© Getty ImagesMeghan Markle and the late Queen Elizabeth shared a giggle during their first joint outing in 2018
She once again seemed uncertain of the rules as the pair left the Mersey Gateway Bridge opening ceremony, watching the Queen get into the car and beginning to walk to the other door before realising Her Majesty had shuffled to that side of the car.
Meghan Markle’s carefully curated wardrobe to suit royal rules
© Getty ImagesPrince Harry’s wife wore a cream outfit by her wedding dress designer, Givenchy
Choosing a much more muted look, the former Suits actress opted for a cream pencil dress with a caped neckline from Givenchy, who designed her wedding dress. Meghan later admitted she deliberately chose neutral hues during her Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, after stepping back as senior working royals in 2020 and moving to Montecito, in an attempt to conform to royal rules.
“Most of the time that I was in the UK, I rarely wore colour,” she confessed. “There was thought in that. To my understanding, you can’t ever wear the same colour as Her Majesty if there’s a group event, but then you also shouldn’t be wearing the same colour as one of the other, more senior members of the family.
© Getty ImagesThe Duchess of Sussex revealed she deliberately wore neutral colours after marrying into the royal family
“So I was like, well what’s a colour that they’ll probably never wear? Camel? Beige? White? So, I wore a lot of muted tones, but it also was so I could just blend in. Like, I’m not trying to stand out here. So there’s no version of me joining this family and trying to not do everything I could to fit in. I don’t want to embarrass the family.”
Since moving back to the UK with Prince Harry and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, the Duchess has continued to choose a largely monochromatic wardrobe, including a black Marks & Spencer blazer to elevate jeans on a quiet lunch out and her maroon outfit for her Nottingham visit last week.
She paired her plum midi pencil skirt by The Fold London with Joseph’s Yara high-neck jumper in a rich mahogany.