Meghan Markle sparked backlash after re-creating her first curtsy to Queen Elizabeth II during the first part of the couple’s documentary.
A TikTok video titled “5 Times Diana Did a Curtsy” was viewed 2.5 million times in 14 hours and liked almost 300,000 times. It can be seen here.
Prince Harry took Meghan to meet Elizabeth for the first time at Royal Lodge, the Windsor home of Prince Andrew.
He told the documentary: “How do you explain that you bow to your grandmother and that you will need to curtsy? Especially to an American, like, that’s weird.”
Meghan said: “Now I’m starting to realize this is a big deal. I mean, Americans will understand this, we have ‘medieval times, dinner and tournament.’ It was like that, I curtsied like I was…”
Meghan re-enacted the curtsy, with a bow and arms spread wide, before adding: “‘Pleasure to meet you your majesty, was that okay?’ It was so intense.”
However, the moment sparked backlash in Britain where she was accused of disrespecting the queen.
Chris Ship, royal editor at ITV News, told Australian show Sunrise: “I was surprised that they left that in the show. You could even see from Harry’s face in the clip that you just showed there, he looked a bit uncomfortable about the way Meghan appeared to be disrespectful of his late grandmother Queen Elizabeth.”
Edward Coram James, U.K.-based PR expert and chief executive of Go Up, told Newsweek: “I think the biggest blunder of the entire thing didn’t come from the royal family, it came from the Sussexes, which is the infamous fake bow.
“It’s one thing to not understand another culture but if you respect the culture nonetheless then that is excusable. It’s another thing to not understand the culture and make fun of it and kind of patronize it.
“I’m very much on the fence with all this stuff but whether you are a royal sympathizer or not, bowing to the queen is a deeply ingrained royal tradition in the U.K. from working people through to countless celebrities who have done the same and done so with quite a lot of pride.
“And so she’s not just mocking that, she’s mocking an aspect of British culture which few people can get away with, especially people subject to extreme privilege like Meghan Markle.”
An earlier video montage of Kate Middleton’s royal curtsies also went viral in the aftermath of the backlash against Meghan.
Harry & Meghan Part II was due to drop at 8 a.m. in Britain, 3 a.m. on the East Coast and midnight on the West Coast on Thursday, December 15.
