Meeting your partner’s family for the first time can be an extremely awkward and awkward situation, which is likely to be exacerbated when it comes to the royal family.
Prince Harry has revealed that the Duchess of Sussex, 41, went a little unprepared to meet his relatives.
The Duke of Sussex, 38, has recalled the moment Meghan Markle first met his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, mistaking Prince Andrew for her assistant.
In his memoir Spare, which hit shelves on Monday, Harry documented his wife’s first meeting with the Queen at the Royal Lodge in October 2016.
In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry recalls the first time Meghan Markle (left) met his grandmother The Queen (right) at the Royal Lodge in 2016
He wrote: After a moment, Meg asked me about the Queen’s assistant. I asked who she was talking about.
“That man with the purse. That man who walked her to the door. Wasn’t that your assistant? Who was it?”
Harry quickly told her it was indeed his uncle, telling Meghan, “That was her second son. Andrew.’
He wrote, “She definitely hadn’t googled us.”
The Duke of Sussex recalls how Meghan initially believed Prince Andrew (left) was the Queen’s assistant
Harry (right) was quick to correct his friend, telling her it wasn’t an assistant but the “Queen’s second son”. Andreas’ (left)
This isn’t the first time the Duchess of Sussex’s knowledge of the royal family has been analyzed.
During the couple’s Netflix docu-series, which aired last month, a giggling Meghan appeared to mock her own efforts to follow royal protocol as she opened up about the “surreal” moment when she first met the Queen — and a deeply exaggerated curtsey to awkward-looking husband, Prince Harry.
The Duchess of Sussex compared the first encounter with Her Majesty to a modestly themed dinner in America’s “Medieval Times”.
Relating the “intense” moment, she gave a low curtsey while husband Harry watched, stone-faced, before looking awkwardly away from the camera. The pair then giggled afterwards.
During the couple’s docu-series, Meghan giggled about her first meeting with the Queen and gave an exaggerated curtsey to awkward-looking husband Prince Harry
The Duchess of Sussex compared the first encounter with Her Majesty to a modestly themed dinner in America’s “Medieval Times”.
During the Netflix series, Meghan appeared to poke fun at her own efforts to follow royal protocol as she opened up about the “surreal” moment when she first met the Queen
Meghan first met the Queen during a luncheon at the Royal Lodge in Windsor, shortly after she and the Duke announced they were dating in 2016.
But she said the whole occasion felt like an antiquated banquet at the Medieval Times, a family dinner theater in the US with staged medieval-style games, sword fights and tournaments.
The Queen was the first senior member of the royal family to meet Meghan after she and Prince Harry announced their relationship in 2016.
“She had no idea what it was all about,” Harry told the docu-series while sitting with his arm around his wife. “So for them it was a bit of a shock to the system.”
Harry wrote in his memoir that Meghan clearly hadn’t eyed the royal family before meeting the Queen and Prince Andrew (both pictured).
Grinning, Meghan added: “I mean. it’s surreal. There wasn’t such a big “Now you meet my grandmother” moment.
“I didn’t know I was going to meet her until a few moments ago. We sat in the car and drove to the Royal Lodge for lunch, and he [Harry] was like, “Oh, my grandmother is here, she’ll be there after church.”.
“I remember we were driving in the car and he is [Harry] like “You know how to curtsy don’t you?”. And I just thought it was a joke.’
The Duke continued, “How do you explain that to people? How do you explain bowing to your grandmother? And that you should curtsey, especially to an American. That’s weird.”
Meghan revealed in the docu-series that she didn’t know she was meeting the Queen and thought Harry was joking when he told her to curtsy
Meghan then says of the documentary: “Now I’m starting to realize that this is a big deal. I mean, Americans will understand that. We have Medieval Times dinner and tournament. It was like this. I curtsied like I was like… “Nice to meet you, Your Majesty.”
“It was so intense. And then when she’s gone, Eugenie, Jack and Fergie say, “You did great!” Many Thanks. I didn’t know what I was doing.”
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