In the couple’s new Netflix docuseries, a TV host criticizes Prince Harry for his reaction to Meghan Markle’s controversial comments and actions while recalling her first meeting with Queen Elizabeth II.
The Duchess of Sussex described her first meeting with the late monarch and how she didn’t understand why she needed to curtsy to Prince Harry’s grandmother in the first volume of “Harry & Meghan,” which premiered Thursday.
Markle mocked her over-the-top attempt to show respect to Queen Elizabeth with an exaggerated curtsy. “Pleasure to meet you, your Majesty,” she said, smiling, as Prince Harry looked on with a small smile on his face.
On Sky News Australia’s “Outsiders,” Australian opinion columnist and Sky News host Rita Panahi slammed the moment, which sparked backlash on social media following the release of the docuseries, as well as Prince Harry’s reaction.
Panahi said:
“Never mind [Meghan] and that cringe performance. But there she is, mocking his grandmother, mocking the entire institution she devoted her life to, and [Harry] just sits there and grins like an idiot.”
The host claimed:
“[Harry] looks uncomfortable. It didn’t look like he was on board with that. But at the end of the day, he sat there and grinned like an idiot as she pretends that, ‘Oh, I had no idea meeting the Queen was a big deal and I had to curtsy, Oh my God.’ And I find the whole thing so utterly reprehensible.”
Vanity Fair’s Erin Vanderhoof, on the other hand, defended Markle’s actions, writing that the duchess:
“is the butt of the joke here, not the Queen or even royal protocol.”
In the first three episodes of “Harry & Meghan,” Markle recalled being in a car with Prince Harry on their way to lunch when he informed her that the Queen would be there and asked her, “You know how to curtsy right?” The former “Suits” star admitted that she initially mistook it for a “joke.”
Prince Harry said:
“How do you explain that to people? How do you explain that you bow to your grandmother and that you would need to curtsy? Especially to an American. That’s weird.”
Markle later admitted that she realized “this is a big deal.”
She stated, before adding a theatrical tone:
“I mean, Americans will understand this. We have Medieval Times, dinner and tournament.”
She continued, exaggerating her bow from the couch where she sat:
“It was like that. I curtsied as though.”
The meeting was “so intense,” according to the Duchess of Sussex, but Princess Eugenie, her husband Jack Brooksbank, and her mother Sarah Ferguson insisted she “did great” after the Queen left.
Markle admitted that she “didn’t know what I was doing” at the time.
The first season of “Harry & Meghan” is now available on Netflix. The final three episodes will be available on Thursday.
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