There are several enduring mysteries about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s courtship, engagement and time in the UK. One of the funniest mysteries is that we STILL don’t know where they went on their honeymoon! I kind of hoped Harry would at least give us a general vicinity in Spare, but he did not:
Our honeymoon was a closely guarded secret. We left London in a car disguised as a removals van, the windows covered with cardboard, and went to the Mediterranean for ten days. Glorious to be away, on the sea, in the sun. But we were also sick. The build-up to the wedding had worn us down.
We returned just in time for the official June celebration of Granny’s birthday. Trooping the Color: one of our first public appearances as newlyweds. Everyone present was in a good mood, upbeat. But then:
Kate asked Meg what she thought of her first Trooping the Color.
And Meg joked: Colorful.
And a yawning silence threatened to swallow us all whole.
[From Spare by Prince Harry]
See, I actually hoped for more of this kind of random tea in the Netflix series. It just goes to show that the Netflix series was more of Meghan’s narrative, and she’s a much more positive person. Meghan’s version was that everything around the wedding was happy – minus her dad’s bullsh-t – and that the wedding itself was a dream. Here’s Harry saying, no, we felt worn down. Anyway, shortly after Trooping the Colour, Meghan and Queen Elizabeth II had their first (and only) one-on-one engagement. Remember that? It was a big deal, the Queen inviting Meghan to do a day of events two seconds after the wedding. Meghan was thrilled about the whole day and then… the papers ripped her to shreds:
[Meghan] returned from the trip glowing. We bonded, she told me. The Queen and I really bonded! We talked about how much I wanted to be a mom and she told me the best way to induce labor was a good bumpy car ride! I told her I’d remember that when the time came.
Things are going to turn around now, we both said.The papers, however, pronounced the trip an unmitigated disaster. They portrayed Meg as pushy, uppity, ignorant of royal protocol, because she’d made the unthinkable mistake of getting into a car before Granny. In truth she’d done exactly what Granny had told her to do. Granny said get in; she got in.
No matter. There were stories for days about Meg’s breach, about her overall lack of class—about her daring not to wear a hat in Granny’s presence. The Palace had specifically directed Meg not to wear a hat. Granny also wore green to honor the victims of Grenfell Tower, and no one told Meg to wear green—so they said she didn’t give a fig about the victims.
I said: The Palace will make a phone call. They’ll correct the record.
They didn’t.
[From Spare, by Prince Harry]
The hat issue! That was a long-running issue, I remember it came up in some reporting just last year, and I believe Susan Hussey was even invoked. As in, Meghan never knew how to behave, even Susan Hussey tried to give her tips, but uncouth Meghan still did the event and she didn’t wear a hat, how ghastly. Here’s Harry saying explicitly: Meghan was told to avoid hats and avoid the color green. The other “protocol” issue was Meghan getting in ahead of QEII, but I seem to remember that wasn’t as much of a long-running issue. I seem to remember that people said, at the time, that the Queen clearly motioned for Meghan to go ahead. But the hat thing, that had legs. That was being used as an attack line for years. Remember when uncouth Meghan didn’t wear a hat???
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN, Backgrid.
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- Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, arrive at the Storyhouse during their visit to Chester, June 14, 2018.,Image: 515377447, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, arrive at the Storyhouse during their visit to Chester, June 14, 2018.,Image: 515377471, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, visit the Storyhouse in Chester, June 14, 2018.,Image: 515377539, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, visit the Storyhouse in Chester, June 14, 2018.,Image: 515377555, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- ** RIGHTS: ONLY UNITED STATES, BRAZIL, CANADA ** Chester, UNITED KINGDOM – Queen Elizabeth II and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend lunch as guests of Chester City Council in Chester, England. Meghan Markle married Prince Harry last month to become The Duchess of Sussex and this is her first engagement with the Queen. During the visit the pair opened a road bridge in Widnes and visited The Storyhouse in Chester. Pictured: Queen Elizabeth II, The Duchess of Sussex BACKGRID USA 14 JUNE 2018 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- The Queen, The Duchess of Sussex, monarch is accompanied by The Duchess on a visit to Cheshire on their first official Royal engagement together. Featuring: Meghan Markle, Queen Elizabeth II Where: Chester, United Kingdom When: 14 Jun 2018 Credit: Euan Cherry/WENN
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- The Queen and Meghan The Duchess Of Sussex open the Mersey Gateway Bridge today, the bridge goes between Runcorn and Widnes in Cheshire.
Meghan was set up to fail by that wretched family from day one- clear as day!
What a bunch of manipulative a**holes!
The long chain of premeditated sabotage of Meghan and inducements to commit calculated faux pas started there. Who remembers Melissa Touabti? Then the tag on the red dress during the Pacific Tour? None of these incidents were random either.
The tag thing was awful. Someone set her up for it, but also, who cares? So a tag was showing. This is not something that matters. Unlike, theoretically, if someone showed off their entire bare ass at public engagements almost a dozen times.
When the tag on the dress happened, I knew she was being set up, and started seeing things from different perspective. It was such an obvious trap that it was disgusting.
Spot on Andy.
Now the non-stop talk of Meghan being hatless makes sense.
That was the talking point against her, should the trip proved to be successful.
The Queen had an eye for good talent and seemed to take to Meghan as a new member of the family.
First, it was an issue regarding Meghan borrowing Kate’s LIP GLOSS, and now a DAMN HAT? These people are PETTY AF! The whole RF Universe consists of MICROMANAGING, ARROGANT people!
Those people just plain suck.
I didn’t think I could like, admire, & respect Meghan more, but here we are.
That poor woman.
Mediterranean for ten days. Glorious to be away, on the sea, in the sun. But we were also sick. The build-up to the wedding had worn us down.
I feel for them and continue to feel for them. Both Meghan and Harry just wanted a fair shake but that country, that family and those tabloids are rotten and racist to the core.
What’s wrong with “Colorful”?
Seriously, wtf?
Nothing. Kate just lacks a sense of humor, in addition to other things.
No personality, period.
I think she was just sort of making a play on words. Trooping the Color = colorful. I’m sure she was supposed to say it was moving and majestic and regal and she wishes we had that here in the US or something.
I was wondering the same thing.
I guess if you’re prepared to take offense at anything and everything, that’s what you’ll do. Pretty sure Meghan was supposed to say, “We don’t have anything nearly this fantastic back in the colonies!” Then, she would have been fine.
That’s exactly it, she was looking for an offense at every turn.
If she said “Jeepers! It’s the best ever!” they would have called her fake. The goal post would always move. She couldn’t win. They wouldn’t give her one inch.
@emilyc – that’s what I was wondering too! I thought it was a witty comment! These people are even more uptight and stick-in-the-mud (and elsewhere!) than I thought possible…
I guess Meg didn’t sound as impressed as Kate wanted her to be. Lol. These people are smelling themselves.
Her joking retort wasn’t sufficiently groveling.
The “colourful” response offended Kate because it 1. pointed to the fact that Meghan wasn’t all that impressed with the pomp and pageantry of royalty and 2. Was a witty one word retort to a banal question and it basically shut down further banal conversation about Trooping the Colour (I don’t think Meghan intended to offend Kate but Kate didn’t like being reminded she is a dull person)
Kate trying to make conversation is hilarious. It’s like she’s half brain dead or something.
I remember the hat thing.
I believe the courtiers told her NOT to wear a hat, and then briefed the press the opposite – that they told her to wear one, but that she did her own thing. SMH
I’m reading the book now, but I’m still in Chapter 3.
I mean— these people are just too far up their own behind.
They take themselves far, far too serious!
That’s not how you get or keep power, btw. But it seems, they think its the case…. “just demand respect, and everyone will”
Nope.
God Kate sounds like a stick in the mud.
The hat thing DID have legs. It was a sign of Meghan’s ignorance (if the queen wears a hat you wear a hat!!!), her disrespect, her disregard for “protocol” (this may have been when “protocol” started to be used as a stick to beat Meghan with), etc. I think it all came down to jealousy that Kate had never been on the royal train and here was Meghan, having a sleepover with the queen.
There are so many times now where we can look back and say – one sentence from the palace, and everything might have played out differently. Here, one brief comment saying “no hat was required or expected at this event. The Duchess of Sussex was dressed appropriately for the event. No further comment” – that might have done SOMETHING. I still think its clear the Queen took her on that trip as a public show of support, but I think there needed to be some follow up. That show of support was not enough when the trip became used to destroy Meghan yet again.
Yep, just one sentence. I think the BM still would have gone after her but just a sentence from BP would have been nice. It’s silly bc, if they had done so, you know they’d be crowing about it now. Look, look we said one sentence about the hat years ago. How dare you say we didn’t stand up for them.
Meghan never had a chance. The British media and RF were out for blood
The Palace was colluding to set her up for headlines.
What really makes me wonder what world these people live in is the question of WHAT DOES IT EVEN MATTER??? A hat. A goddamn hat. Hats aren’t even super fashionable these days but apparently the UK posh set is obsessed with them? Pantyhose. GTFO. Nail polish. I can’t even. I’m on IG being bombarded with the craziest, most glittery nailpolishes (the algorithm knows what I like LOL) and she can’t do a nice burgundy shade. Why? The utter nonsense that was discussed at length during Meghan’s time within that family is just mind blowing and dumb as hell. The importance these people are attaching to certain things is embarrassing. And just for the record, the Queen sometimes looked ridiculous. Which is fine, everyone has their own taste. But come ON.
The nail polish debacle was nonsense.
Look up pictures of Sophie and even Kate wearing Burgundy nail polish.
Sorry for some reason I cannot post links.
All of it is nonsense and yet it’s the nonsense which gets blown up painting her with paintbrushes she’s never touched. It’s criminal harassment as far as I’m concerned.
The no showing of shoulders are also one of the “breaches”, although we know the queen herself wore dresses with straps in her younger years. Bea got married in one of the queens strap dresses ffs. Just because an aging queen doesn’t wear colored nail polish, prefere covering clothes and skirts doesn’t make it protocol. If she’d been young noe, she’d probably wore al kinds of glittery nailpolish. Not to mention the really short skirts her daughter wore when she was young, did the rota cry breach of protocol back then?
Can someone who is British explain to me if describing something as “colorful” if a British thing and if so, if it’s meant to be derogatory or not? (I assume she didn’t mean that it was literally colorful?). In America, while the term colorful certainly exists it’s seldom used in everyday speech to describe an event – and if it was (again, assuming that it’s not meant that the event literally has a lot of color) it would usually be used to describe something or someone that is a bit eccentric or a character or something out of the norm – not necessarily in a derogative way, it can also be in a fun way, but it usually does mean something off-beat. I’m kind of scratching my head what was meant by it in this context, but I have no idea if the term has a different meaning in Britain?
@Claire respectfully, I think you’re reading way too much into this. Meghan was asked what she thought of Trooping the Color and she said “colorful” as a cute quip, that’s it. This is just the first example that popped into my head, so forgive me lol, but if they had been at a Halloween corn maze and someone had asked her what she thought of it, her reply would be “it’s corny!” – it’s not a dig at the event or meant in a derogatory way, it’s simply a punny response.
If she had said that around actual human beings with souls who weren’t determined to hate every single thing that came out of her mouth, the normal response would have been an amused giggle, at which point Meghan probably would have elaborated. You’re correct about typical usage of colorful, but it’s so obviously a punny reference to the name of the event. I guess maybe Kate and the rest of the royals are so completely devoid of anything even approaching humor that they failed to see the joke.
Also, it’s besides the point but it is, quite literally, a colorful event. Other than the flyover with the colors, it’s virtually identical to a dozen other royal ceremonies, so commenting on the flyover (and yes, the color) seems natural to me. It’s also just sort of a shrug of a question; Meghan isn’t 5 years old, she’s not going to say “oooh, pretty planes.” There are parades in the US, it’s not like Trooping the Color is some wildly spectacular event. I’ve been to sports events with bigger airshows. It just seems like yet another instance where the royals wanted Meghan to gush and bow and scrape and express just how grateful she was to be included in such an historic event and how she’d never seen anything like it ever and instead she responded true to her personality with a little joke and they immediately froze over because as I said initially, they were absolutely determined to hate every single thing she did or said.
It definitely was a play on words. The Color is colorful. That’s the American sense of breezy humor which obviously went down like a lead balloon with them. I’m sure they were expecting a more fulsome reaction and probably thought how awfully disrespectful of her to describe such a monumental event (in their minds).
Agreed, and trooping the color was AFTER the “outrage” that Kitty exhibited about her hormones not being Meghan’s business. I would have been answering every single thing out of Kitty’s mouth with a “yes” or “no”, by that point. The fact that Meghan was making the equivalent of a dorky dad joke shows her class.
ALL OF THIS! The RF are so obsessed with the most trivial bullsh!t. I wouldn’t survive 5 seconds in that family. I’m amazed Harry and Meghan lasted as long as they did.
I remember Meghan saying something somewhere, “I’m an actor. I take direction very well. I can do what I’m told the way I’m told to do it. Just tell me what you want.” I mean, that’s all she ever wanted or needed. Some direction. Instead she got misdirection at every turn. As was said above, she was definitely set up to fail.
Sounds like she got direction, but then no support after she followed it and got ripped apart.
I wonder if any of these directions/protocols were sent in emails to her, which would give more receipts and proof of lies.
Indeed. Meghan got blasted for not wearing a hat, closing her own car door, and daring to be seen giggling with TQ. Quelle surprise! They tried to make fetch happen – her getting in before TQ, which would have been seen as on obvious breach of protocol and provoke anger, but I guess someone at the palace must have pushed back bc that smear went away too quickly.
These palace courtiers were intentionally leaving land mines everywhere for her to blow up in her face and give the tabloids reasons to attack.
@Snuffles. 💯
My copy of Spare is arriving today and Im very excited to read it – what a complete clusterf*ck the BRF is
I recall thinking that when Meg did the video for her wedding dress display it sounded like she had a bit of a cold and raspy voice, now I know that I was right.
Call me an ignorant, uncouth American, but I simply cannot fathom giving a shit whether someone wore a damn hat or not, much less expending the energy to hold a grudge and use the lack of a hat as an attack point for YEARS after the fact.
Please get rid of this archaic, petty, cruel, inhumane institution. Whether Harry intended it or not, Spare makes a good argument for abolishing the monarchy. Putting the institution first, above family, has utterly ruined Harry’s father and brother. The whole system is broken beyond repair, beyond “modernizing” or “downsizing”.
Losing their damn minds over a f–king hat. Good Lord.
I remember the event and the car issue. Meghan wasn’t sure what to do, so she asked the Queen, “What is your preference?” How anybody could take that interaction and turn it into “She didn’t respect the Queen is beyond me.
I wonder whether Prince Harry’s book cover the jewelery ban. It was reported by Dan Wotton that the Queen had banned Meghan from wearing the crown jewels and that William supported the ban
@Claire. I would use the term colourful in two ways. If I was trying to be polite when describing someone’s use of risque language I might describe it as colourful.
In this case though it was simply an adjective to describe the array of colour on display. The bright red uniforms, the gold braid, the black of the horses.
Am I remembering correctly M was describing what she thought of her first Trooping the Colour?
The suggestion that she was being rude probably stems from her using the term colourful to describe something with the word colour in the title. In other words, ” Is that the best she can come up with to describe one of our premier displays of pomp and ceremony?”
Orf with her head!
If we’re thinking of the same story, William didn’t want Meghan to wear the royal jewelry that Diana had worn, like the lover’s knot tiara. “The crown jewels” doesn’t just mean the jewelry in the royal collection. They’re the regalia the sovereign wears for the coronation. They’re the literal crown, orb and scepter that Elizabeth had at her coronation and that are displayed at the Tower of London behind foot-thick glass with armed guards. The monarch is the only one who ever wears the crown jewels. The idea of Meghan running around with the scepter is hilarious though.
That was all from AK47. Kelly made the mistake of pissing off Charles and she was tossed as soon as the Queen died. She supposedly has one more book from her deal that she signed so I suspect that the jewelry stories will be how she sells that book. Of course, Charles has to approve the book -perhaps that’s how he’ll stick it to Harry and Megan one more time
This is one of my favorite looks she has ever worn.
This is a serious question…is this something the palace would normally make a statement about? Harry saying they would put out a statement and then didn’t.
I don’t remember them ever putting out a statement about what anyone else wore and if they were told to or not. But I could easily not be remembering bc I didn’t follow them much before Meghan came on the scene. Even with “thong-gate” (Kate’s dress blowing up in the back), they didn’t comment on what she wore vs what she was told or whatever.
It has always been pretty well known that the Queen either dictated what people wore to her events or approved what they would wear. Just like how she approved pictures of the kids/weddings, etc before release.
Same- I just adore this dress (and the other cape-style dresses she’s worn) as much as that iconic black suit with cropped pants and black heels. Just gorgeous, and classic pieces, to be sure.
I doubt it would have been an “official” statement, but if the palace really wanted to support Meghan, there easily could have been an “unnamed palace source” story about how much the Queen enjoyed her day with Meg and thought she did remarkably well for being so new, and didn’t mind at all she didn’t wear a a hat,
Instead they ripped her apart for doing exactly what they told her to do.
Cannot’s awful hair weave from years ago is the easiest example of how she was supported for the most ridiculous reasons, while there were crickets for flat out lies about Meghan. I can’t remember how they worded it, exactly, but the upshot is that they gave Kate a childhood injury “scar” rather than just, you know, “never explain”.
A hat, lip gloss, flower girl dress, nail polish… What are stupid things the British Press took and ran with and drove a woman to su*cidal thoughts, Alex? It would be funny if it wasn’t so awful. Meghan never sat a foot wrong and was tormented over nothing.
Also, wasn’t Kate the one who wore PINK visiting the 9/11 Memorial? Was there an outrage over that in the British Press?
Honestly I recall the hat thing and that was when I started paying attention to Meghan after the wedding. I was like are you all for real (Royal Rota). I feel really bad for her. Why wouldn’t the Palace correct this? And why isn’t Harry calling them out? I get he hates the press, but does he see that his family just sat around and let her take their crap???
The pictures from this event always infuriate me because Meghan looked so utterly divine and then at some point her hair got blown around and not one of the queen’s attendants or assistants or ANYONE could give her a quick heads up so she could fix her part. It would have taken half a second but instead they let her walk around like that for a while and be photographed so they could then proceed to use the few photos with her part messed up in perpetuity (to this DAY!) to show just how “unkempt” she was at an event with the queen and to further punctuate their b*tchy comments about “hm, if she had worn a hat that wouldn’t have happened.” Lord I hate them, I really do. Something so simple and yet it shows just how petty and cruel they were.
It’s like if you have spinach in your teeth at an event – you’re not the a*hole, the a*holes are the people who look you in your face and let you walk around like that without doing the decent thing and giving you a quick heads up.
It is even worse, here, because of the political and racist history surrounding Black women’s hair. “Unkempt” hair is a dog whistle for racists, just as “unprofessional” for natural Black hair is. To this day we still have children being suspended from school because they wear a natural hair style, women being told in the workplace that their hair is inappropriate and unprofessional, etc.
I remember a few weeks ago, some of us here were speculating that the Palace probably didn’t tell Meghan to wear a hat so that she would be criticised by the press. Here’s Harry confirming that she wasn’t told to wear a hat.
The hat kerfuffle came from Angela Kelly, AK-47. At first it was reported that Meghan had been told to wear a hat and did not and then the story changed and Angela Kelly was alleged to have said that she informed Meghan that the Queen would be wearing a hat but did not think she needed to tell Meghan that she should wear a hat. Although, Kelly thought that Meghan should and would wear a hat since the Queen was.
I could totally see Kelly telling Meghan that she didn’t need to wear a hat and then coming back on her later and lying about it. Per Spare she was lying about the tiara story.
If Meghan had worn green, they would’ve lost their minds and criticized her for dressing like the Queen.
Yeah. Meghan was told nobody wears the same color as TQ. Then why would she be expected to wear green? Did everybody supporting the victims wear green? Isn’t doing something tangible to help more important than wearing a certain color?
I wish Harry would mention the ensemble Kate modeled in back in university, when old Willy’s eyes popped out of his head. But I think that image is supposed to be a thing that never happened now that Kate is Catherine…
“ she told me the best way to induce labor was a good bumpy car ride!”
🤣🤣🤣 I’m not even going to ask. 🤣🤣
Meghan’s outfit was completely appropriate — simple, elegant, professional — for that occasion.
She could have worn a hat. She could have worn a coatdress slathered with buttons, or a sister wife’s dress, or a literal reproduction of a white lace dress the queen wore in the 1950s, and the British press still would have shredded her. And the palace still would have allowed it.
Because she didn’t have the most essential accessory: the skin of a so-called English rose.
Sounds like Meghan was setup and the Queen was in on it. The Meghan getting in the car thing before the Queen was only let go off due to the Queen being implicated.
It’s unbelievable that Kate failed to recognize Meghan’s astonishing wit. Lucky Harry.
I’ve been thinking about this (while trying, in vain, to actually get some work done). What should Meghan have said? Or, more precisely, why was Kate so miffed by Meghan’s innocent, amusing remark?
It’s not like Kate planned the Trooping of the Colors herself. She didn’t train the horses (LOL at the thought). She didn’t launch the tradition. Kate is just such a petty dullard.
I hope I’m wrong, but it seems to me, @art maven, that you are being cruel and sarcastic about some offhand wordplay. How very posh of you.
Meghan was asked to do a one on one with the Queen earlier and before Kate ever did and so you can be sure many were jealous. (Kate did do a Philip and Queen event but that’s about it over ten years).
I do recall that when this event was discussed here some had picked up on the queen directing Meghan to go first.