Kate Middleton had been a part of the royal family for eight years. Meghan Markle, on the other hand, is a member for a little over a year.
Although Kate Middleton had personally known Queen Elizabeth a lot longer than Meghan Markle, Her Majesty gave the Duchess of Sussex something that Prince William’s wife waited for almost a decade. The mother-of-three had been patient to be given a chance to score a solo engagement with the Queen, but it was Prince Harry’s wife who immediately got the opportunity.
“The Queen admires the fact that Meghan is self-made and was keen to show her the ropes. The Duchess of Cambridge waited much longer after her wedding for a similar invitation,” royal biographer Angela Levin wrote. “Her Majesty and Meghan traveled overnight on the Royal Train to Cheshire where they opened the Mersey Gateway Bridge and Chester’s Storehouse Theatre. Meghan was flustered about whether she or the Queen should get in the royal car first. The Queen stood back and Meghan stepped inside. Apart from that small snag, they seem to enjoy being together.”
However, this doesn’t mean that Queen Elizabeth favors one in-law more than the other. In fact, many were convinced that Her Majesty likes Kate Middleton more when she allowed the Duchess of Cambridge to stand with her in the balcony during the ceremony of Remembrance Sunday, while Meghan Markle was in a different balcony standing next to Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence, Princess Anne's husband, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex.
However, managing editor of Majesty Magazine, Joe Little, explained that it was nothing personal at all. The size of the balcony should be taken into consideration as it would not fit all the royals there.
“She was not as prominent perhaps as some people might have expected, but there’s a pecking order,” he said. “There was no slight intended, but William being the older, more senior brother would go out [first] with his wife.”
Also, many thought that Queen Elizabeth is not too pleased with Meghan Markle after her and Prince Harry’s explosive interviews in the ITV documentary last month. In fact, Her Majesty even took their portrait down from the Buckingham Palace’s audience room after learning about their revelation.
It seems that Queen Elizabeth was teaching Prince Harry and Meghan Markle a lesson by removing their portrait down after dragging the controversy instead of stopping it. Her Majesty may have felt that their move was not royal-like. And because of that, she may believe that they don’t deserve to be displayed in Buckingham Palace for now.
