Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will no longer be senior royals by the end of this month. But before they are officially stripped off from their titles, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex returned to the UK to attend their final engagement.
Many have noticed that Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry, and Meghan Markle barely interacted with one another during the annual Commonwealth Service at London's Westminster Abbey on Monday. Even though the Sussexes were just behind the Cambridges, the couples didn’t engage in a conversation at all.
Royal experts Omid Scobie and Maggie Rulli discussed the moment on the Heir Podcast. Rulli pointed out that when Prince William and Kate Middleton arrived in their seats, Meghan Markle appeared to say hello but didn’t get a greeting back.
"The moment a lot of people are talking about is where they had the chance to have the optics of unity,” she said. "A lot of the younger royals were sitting together and it appears in this moment Meghan sort of mouths hello to William and Kate who are sitting nearby to them and it appears no one gestures back."
Omid Scobie then shared his surprise with the “frosty reception” that the Cambridges gave to the Sussexes.
“I think the initial moment when the Cambridges arrived and the Sussexes both said hello and it was what looked like a frosty reception to that,” he said. “That felt weird to me because I thought that the initial hello regardless of what may have happened off-camera over the next ten minutes before the Queen sat down was a chance to show the world that everything is fine."
It is worth noting that Prince William and Kate Middleton first greeted Prince Edward and Sophie before saying hello back to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, who answered with a smile.
Meanwhile, a body language expert claimed that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had different emotions during their last Royal engagement with Queen Elizabeth. Patti Wood said that the Duke of Sussex looked “concerned” while the former actress was “relaxed.”
"If you look at her hand, she's holding on to the paper, but you notice how relaxed her fingers are and how open the fingers are,” the body language expert said. She's not tensely holding the paper. It's very relaxed. That says that she's fine. She's okay. It's all good."
Patti Wood then noted that Meghan Markle’s relaxed manner can’t be said the same for Prince Harry. She claimed that the Duke of Sussex seemed to be incredibly tense.
