Meghan Markle makes a tiny faux pas during her day out with the Queen
The Queen and new Duchess of Sussex had an awkward moment together and was ushered into a car by the Queen herself after first offering to let the monarch go in first. Meghan Markle joined her grandmother-in-law in Cheshire for their joint engagement. After the pair stepped off the royal train at Runcorn, they were escorted to a waiting car when the awkward moment took place.
In footage that was captured by an LBC reporter, there seemed to be a brief moment of confusion between who would get into the car first. 36-year-old Meghan first offered to let the Queen get in first before asking "What's your preference?"
It is believed that Meghan offered to let her grandmother-in-law go first as the Queen prefers to sit in the seat that is behind the driver's seat.
The pair arrived at the train station around 10:30 am and were promptly escorted to the car. The footage seems to suggest that Meghan was told to go in first but the monarch who was oblivious to that went in first instead.
As reported by the Daily Mail, etiquette expert William Hanson shared, "The Queen always sits behind the driver. This is just a case of habit, not protocol (protocol actually says the most important person sits diagonally behind the driver) but the Queen has always preferred being directly behind whoever is driving her."
"Meghan was probably not aware of this and the royal household may have forgotten to brief The Duchess of Sussex in this nuance. It was, however, a considerate gesture from the Duchess of Sussex to consider where the Queen would like to sit," Hanson continued.
The pair had to travel overnight by train for a day of Royal engagements which included the Mersey Gateway Bridge and Storyhouse in Chester.
Meghan has been under heavy public scrutiny after marrying Prince Harry and clearly, she is ready for the life of a Duchess. While the Queen and Meghan were on their first royal engagement visit to Cheshire, Meghan could be seen taking on the "duchess slant". As the pair watched a children's dance performance, she sported the distinctive move in which the knees and ankles are clasped firmly tighter and the legs are slanted to the side, creating a flattering silhouette.
Of course, her grandmother-in-law was very pleased with Meghan's posture and had a huge smile on her face as the two chatted with each other while attending the event. The term duchess slant — first coined by Beaumont Etiquette — is named after Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton.
Myka Meier, royal etiquette expert and founder and director of Beaumont Etiquette, shared with People, "Typically the ‘duchess slant’ is used when a lady has to sit for an extended amount of time while keeping poise and posture. It is the perfect pose for when a camera is shooting directly in front of you because by slightly slanting the knees to create a zig-zag effect when wearing a dress or skirt, your legs are angled so that the camera only shoots the sides of your legs and protects your modesty."
For their first royal engagement together, the Queen provided Meghan with a pair of sparkly new earrings which was a pair of pearl and diamond drop earrings, which appear to be a smaller version of her own. The Queen is very rarely seen without her pearl accessories and she frequently pairs her necklace and matching earrings on Royal outings.
Last weekend, Meghan could be seen asking Harry for reassurance at the Queen's birthday celebrations, the Trooping the Color ceremony. The Duchess of Sussex could be seen standing next to Harry and Harry very sweetly asked his new bride whether she was 'doing ok' to which she anxiously responded, 'yeah' according to the Mirror.
At the 'Trooping the Color' ceremony, Harry could be seen prompting his wife, Meghan to curtsy upon Queen Elizabeth's official arrival. The general rule is that members of the royal family bow or curtsy to the Queen if they are seeing her for the first time that day. As the moment arrived, Meghan asked Harry under her breath, "Do it?" to which he replied, "yes" before she curtsied and he bowed his head in respect.
An onlooker spoke to People and shared: "I thought Harry looked more tense than Meghan in the carriage. On the balcony, he was more relaxed. It was the same on the wedding day. It took her a while to relax into what was going on. But coming back (from the parade), it all seemed to go swimmingly."
The Duchess of Sussex was visibly seen as standing behind her sister-in-law Kate Middleton and brother-in-law Prince William. This all came down to a royal "pecking order". As reported by People, the managing editor of Majesty magazine, Joe Little shared, "She was not as prominent perhaps as some people might have expected, but there’s a pecking order."
"There was no slight intended, but William being the older, more senior brother would go out [first] with his wife," Little continued. During Kate Middleton's Trooping the Color debut in the year 2011, she did stand towards the front of the balcony but remained on the far left of the balcony, unlike Meghan Markle.