Meghan on curtsies in front of the Queen
She thought “that was a joke”
Duchess Meghan reports on her life in “Harry & Meghan”.
© imago/Panama Pictures
In her new Netflix documentary, Duchess Meghan reports on how her first meetings with the Queen and Kate went.
In the new Netflix documentary “Harry & Meghan”, Duchess Meghan (41) also talks about how the first encounters with members of Prince Harry’s (38) royal family went. About getting to know Harry’s brother, Prince William (40), and his wife Princess Kate (40), the then US actress says: “When I first met Kate, she and Will came to eat. I stood there, in ripped jeans and barefoot.” She always hugged people, Meghan said, “and I didn’t realize how strange that was for a lot of people in Britain.”
She also says of Harry’s family: “I soon realized that the formality that is on the outside is reflected on the inside. On the outside you represent, then you close the door and think: Now we can relax. But that formality remains. That surprised me.”
“It was quite a shock for her”
Prince Harry reveals in the documentary that his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022), was the first high-ranking family member that Meghan met. “She had no idea what such a meeting entailed – it was quite a shock for her.”
“It was surreal,” Meghan recalls. Harry only told her about it shortly before the meeting. They were on their way to lunch and he told her that his grandmother would come to them. “Then he said, ‘You know how to curtsey, don’t you? I thought that was a joke.’ That’s when she realized, Meghan continued, “that this is a big deal. For us in America, it’s like a medieval stage play. That’s how it was…”
Apparently, Meghan made an impression on the royals: “My family was extremely impressed by her right away,” reports Harry. “Some seemed directly unsettled.” They were probably surprised that he got such a beautiful and intelligent woman. “But given the fact that I was dating an American actress, they probably thought at the time, ‘This is definitely not going to last.’
Meghan adds: “My job as an actress was the biggest problem. From a British point of view it is associated with a certain image, Hollywood etc… It’s easy to think in clichés.”