Since marrying Prince Harry, her tights, messy bun and the way she crosses her legs have all caused controversy. But what do her fashion choices really tell us?
The gooey-eyed, loved-up, you-can-do-no-wrong stage of the honeymoon between the new Duchess of Sussex and the media lasted for three weeks precisely. On Saturday 9 June, for her first appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony after the trooping the colour celebrations, the royal formerly known as Meghan Markle wore a pale-pink Carolina Herrera dress with a wide, off-the-shoulder collar. “Some were quick to notice that she may have bent one of British royalty’s most steadfast rules,” observed Hello! magazine gravely, noting that “royal protocol usually advises that women should keep their shoulders covered”.
A few weeks later, at Wimbledon’s women’s singles final, the big news from the royal box was the daring return of the duchess’s signature “messy bun”. “Meghan Markle has been sticking to the royals’ elegant style lately … but this weekend her messy hairstyle and casual look were back,” noted Vanity Fair. As if strands of untucked hair were not enough to see the duchess branded the biggest royal rule-breaker since the Duchess of Devonshire scandalised 18th-century society with her affairs and gambling debts, it transpired that at one event she had momentarily forgotten the “duchess slant” and crossed her legs at the knee, rather than the ankle. The Daily Mail expressed concern that she would be “slammed for disrespecting the Queen”, quoting a “royal etiquette expert” who pronounced crossing the leg at the knee one of the “biggest etiquette mistakes a lady can make”.
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