Meghan Markle and Prince Harry didn’t speak much about Prince William and Kate Middleton during the first three episodes of their Netflix docuseries but Meghan recalled their first meeting and how the Prince and Princess of Wales reacted.
Meghan spoke about meeting them for the first time at Prince Harry’s Kensington Palace cottage and implied they weren’t on board with her going in for a hug.
Meghan said she was “surprised” at how “formal” the royal family continued to remain in a private setting.
She explained that she was unaware of the formality with which the royals go about their days, and greeted the Prince and Princess of Wales barefoot and in ripped jeans.
“I was a hugger and have always been a hugger. I didn’t realize that that was really jarring for a lot of Brits,” Markle said, referencing her first meeting with Kate.
“I guess I started to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside.”
Markle said she didn’t expect the royals to behave behind closed doors the same way they do at public events.
She said: “There is a forward-facing way of being, and then you close the door and you are like, ‘Oh, great. We can relax now.’ But that formality carries over on both sides. And that was surprising to me.”
“It’s so funny when I look back now because now I know so much,” she said, adding that she’s “so glad I didn’t then because I could just authentically be myself without so much preparedness.”
Elsewhere in the episode, Markle claimed she had no idea she would have to curtsey in front of Queen Elizabeth II when they met.
Harry explained: “My grandmother was the first senior member of the royal family that Meghan met. She [Meghan] had no idea what it all consisted of. It was a bit of a shock to the system for her.”
“I mean, it’s surreal. I didn’t know I was going to meet her until moments before,” Meghan recalled.
“We were in the car, and we were going to the royal lodge for lunch, and Harry said, ‘Oh, my grandmother’s gonna be here!’ We were driving up and he said, ‘You know how to curtsey, right?’ And I just thought it was a joke.”