Expert Reveals Tensions Were High Between Meghan Markle and Other Royals Sophie, Kate, and Camilla Away From the Cameras After Queen’s Death

Prior to King Charles III’s coronation, many wondered if Prince Harry and Meghan Markle would attend. The Duke of Sussex was there and faced his family for the first time following the release of the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan and the prince’s explosive memoir Spare.

Meghan, however, did not attend. Some think that was for the best as one expert observed that the last time she was in the U.K. everyone tried to appear cordial but tensions were high between Harry’s wife and senior royals including the Princess of Wales (formerly known as Kate Middleton), Queen Consort Camilla, and the Duchess of Edinburgh (formerly Sophie, Countess of Wessex) following Queen Elizabeth II’s death. Here’s what that expert saw when cameras weren’t on the women.

A lot of what we saw happened off-camera because you weren’t allowed to pick up your cameras until they saw the coffin,” she said according to Express. “We had five to 10 minutes of just watching them. The body language was fascinating. You couldn’t help but notice the body language between the senior royals and Meghan from where we were standing. You could see that Camilla, Kate, and Sophie were together, and the body language was very comfortable between them.

But then there was Meghan, and you could have almost fitted somebody else in that space. It spoke volumes. Even if you didn’t know what we all know that has happened over the past few years, you’d have turned up and thought, ‘that looks a bit odd; there’s something slightly wrong here.’”

English noted that the Duchess of Sussex’s body language inside the Hall was very telling.

The royal expert shared: “There was something self-consciously awkward about her posture, demonstrating the depth of the rift between herself and the rest of the royal family even if you happened upon them without any prior knowledge of the acrimony of the past four years.”

Indeed, Meghan, who was holding black leather gloves, seemed so lost for something to do that at one point she rested her left hand in her pocket.”

Meghan and Sophie had to ride in the same car together for Queen Elizabeth’s lying-in-state procession as well as the funeral. Royally Obsessed podcast co-host Rachel Bowie discussed why Meghan was in a car with Sophie instead of Camilla or Kate.

To see Sophie riding in the car with Meghan — I think a lot of people were confused as to why wouldn’t Kate and Meghan ride in the car together, but I think that obviously made sense as Kate’s next in line to the throne so she’d obviously ride with the Queen Consort, Camilla,” she explained.

Bowie then praised Sophie for showing so much strength in the days following the queen’s death saying: “From where I was I got the sense that … sometimes you have that one strong person in a family who’s kind of keeping everyone together. To me, it seemed like Sophie was that person. It was something that really stood out because it seemed that she really was very strong.”