Social media users claim Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle copied a look from the late Princess Diana after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. But the photo shared in the posts is old; It was taken at a 2019 Memorial Day ceremony, and her outfit respected the usual dress code for commemorating the 1918 Armistice.
“People say Meghan is a badass for that,” read a September 12, 2022 tweet. “Does anyone still think dressing up as your husband’s dead mother for a funeral is weird?”
The post includes a photomontage of Markle and Diana wearing black coats and hats. Similar tweets were shared thousands of times on Twitter within days of the Queen’s death on September 8, 2022.
“I’m here for this pettiness,” read another Sept. 12 tweet with #QueenElizabeth.
The side-by-side pictures also circulated on Instagram and Facebook.
However, a reverse image search reveals that the photo of Markle was taken during a Memorial Day ceremony on November 11, 2019.
The photo of Diana, who died in a car accident in 1997, was taken on Remembrance Day 1991, as seen here.
Jessica Storoschuk, a historian and author of a blog about the British royal family, told AFP that Diana and Markle both wear a poppy “to honor veterans and those who didn’t return” from WWI.
“In the UK, Canada and elsewhere, this would be immediately understood in the context of Remembrance Day,” she said.
Brooke Newman, historian of early modern Britain and the royal family at Virginia Commonwealth University, agreed.
“Through donning a simple black-belted coat adorned with a single red poppy, both women attempted to shift the emphasis from themselves to the central focus of the solemn occasion: the commemoration of the anniversary of the 1918 Armistice.” , she said.
Other royal women have been photographed in similar looks on other commemorations. Below is a picture of Princess Catherine wearing black with a red poppy in 2021.
For Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, which took place on September 19, women in the royal family wore “what was expected of them,” Storoschuk said: a black dress or coat to the knee or longer, with a black hat and black tights.
Markle appeared in black at several public ceremonies to bid the Queen farewell.
Also on September 10, King Charles III’s sons, William and Harry, accompanied by their spouses, made a public appearance to greet the crowd that had gathered outside Windsor Castle.
Harry and his wife have been under intense media scrutiny since early 2020, when they gave up royal duties and relocated to Los Angeles. The couple’s interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, as well as their lucrative deals with streaming platforms like Spotify and AppleTV, only added to that attention.
Newman said the posts circulating the internet include a long-running scrutiny of Markle’s fashion choices.
“Members of the royal family, and women in particular, face intense media scrutiny and are therefore very careful in their choice of clothing and jewelry,” she said. “As the only person of African descent to marry into the royal family, Meghan has faced an unprecedented level of negative criticism for her fashion choices — regardless of how carefully she chooses her outfits.” … AFP