Meghan Markle’s controversial suggestion that she didn’t know she had to curtsy to Queen Elizabeth II has been dismissed by royal insiders. The Duchess of Sussex made the claim as she appeared in her and Harry’s self-titled Netflix docuseries which aired in six parts in December 2022.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, fashion and cultural commentator Tom Fitzgerald said: “Meghan is the type of woman who would check a menu out online before going to a restaurant to pick what she was going to eat. So the idea that she didn’t know she was supposed to curtsy for the [late] Queen, I just didn’t find it particularly believable, because [based on] everything she ever told us about herself, I cannot imagine that she went into meeting the Royal Family completely cold, with no research whatsoever.”
The claim was just one of many bombshells the couple dropped throughout the interview.
After Harry told his then-girlfriend that she would be meeting his beloved grandmother for the first time after a visit to church, Meghan recalls how she thought it was a joke when he asked if she knew how to curtsy. She then performed a dramatic and over-exaggerated curtsey on the series while Harry looked on.
Meghan then explained: “I curtsied like I was… ‘Pleased to meet you, Your Majesty’. It was so intense.” The Duke of Sussex also recalled the moment in his memoir, Spare. He claimed Meghan was taught how to curtsey by Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson.
In his bombshell memoir, Spare, Harry wrote: “Fergie came out, a little emotional, and asked, ‘Can you curtsy?’ Meg shook her head. Fergie then demonstrated, and Meg imitated her.”
Among the many shocking claims in the series, Harry claimed there is a “huge level of unconscious bias” in the Royal Family. The documentary referenced when Princess Michael of Kent wore a Blackamoor-style brooch to an event the Duchess of Sussex attended in 2017.
He said: “In this family, sometimes you are part of the problem rather than part of the solution. There is a huge level of unconscious bias. The thing with unconscious bias, it is actually no one’s fault. But once it has been pointed out, or identified within yourself you then need to make it right. It is education. It is awareness. It is a constant work in progress for everybody, including me.”
Harry then spoke about when he wore a Nazi uniform to a private party in 2005. He said: “It was probably one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I felt so ashamed afterwards. All I wanted to do was make it right.” He explained how he met with the Chief Rabbi in London and visited Berlin to further educate himself.
