Meghan Markle recalls awkward Kate Middleton meeting during Netflix show

Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton’s relationship has been the subject of much speculation over the years, but Meghan used her first Netflix show to open up about her first meeting with the Princess of Wales

Meghan Markle is stepping back into the Netflix spotlight this week with her new lifestyle show, With Love, Meghan.

And as fans countdown until they get another glimpse at Meghan and Prince Harry ’s new post-royal lives in LA, they’re also looking back at the last time the couple gave us a glimpse behind closed doors.

Their debut show with the streamer – Harry & Meghan – was filled with royal drama as they shared their side of the story regarding their decision to quit their senior roles and move to the US. One of the stories Meghan recounted was about her first meeting with Princess Kate, and it was slightly awkward.

Meghan explains that she didn’t expect the formalities we see in public – such as royals curtsying to each other – to happen in private, but she quickly found out she was wrong. The two royal women first met at Kensington Palace, where Prince Harry had a cottage just a few doors up from Prince William and Kate.

On the Netflix show, Meghan said: “Even when Will and Kate came over and I had met her for the first time, they came over for the first time, I remember I was in ripped jeans and I was barefoot. I was a hugger, always been a hugger. I didn’t realise that that is really jarring for a lot of Brits.

“I guess I started to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside. That there is a forward-facing way of being. And then you close the door and you’re like, ‘Oh, great. Okay, we can relax now.’ But that formality carries over on both sides. And that was surprising to me.”

Harry also recalled introducing his new girlfriend to the late Queen Elizabeth II, recalling asking Meghan if she knew how to curtsy. Harry said: “My grandmother was the first senior member of the family that Meghan met. She had no idea what it all consisted of so it was a bit of a shock to the system for her.

Meghan said: “There wasn’t like some big moment of ‘Now you’re going to meet my grandmother’. I didn’t know I was going to meet her until moments before. We were in the car and we were going to Royal Lodge for lunch, and he’s like ‘Oh, my grandmother’s here, we’re going to meet her after church.’ And I remember we were in the car driving up and he’s like ‘You know how to curtsy, right?’ And I just thought it was a joke.

Harry said: “How do you explain that to people? How do you explain that you bow to your grandmother? And that you will need to curtsy. Especially to an American. That’s weird. Meghan added: “Now I’m starting to realise ‘This is a big deal’. I mean, Americans will understand this. We have medieval times, dinner and tournament. It was like that. It was so intense. When she left, Eugenie Jack and Fergie said ‘you did great’ and I said thanks. I didn’t know what I was doing.”