'I Didn't Think That Is What Happens': Meghan Markle Had No Idea How To 'Curtsy' Before Meeting Queen Elizabeth For The First Time
Mar. 11 2021, Updated 1:58 p.m. ET
She's just like us! Meghan Markle revealed she had no idea how to "curtsy" before meeting Queen Elizabeth II for the first time.
"There wasn’t actually a formality the first time I met Her Majesty, The Queen. We were going to lunch at Royal Lodge, Prince Andrew and [Sarah Ferguson] Fergie live there, and Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice spent a lot of time there. Eugenie and I had known each other before I knew Harry and we’re friends with them as a couple," she told Oprah Winfrey on Sunday, March 7.
"Harry and I are in the car, I said, 'Oh great.' He said, 'Do you know how to curtsy?' Now, I thought genuinely that's what happens outside, I thought that was part of the fanfare, I didn’t think that is what happens inside," she revealed.
"I go, 'That’s your grandmother,' and he goes, 'It’s the Queen.' It was easy up until then. I learned it very quickly right in front of the house and walked in. I practiced really quickly and we went in, and I met her and I did a very deep curtsy, I don’t remember it and we sat there and we chatted. It was lovely and easy and I think, 'Thank god, I hadn’t known a lot about the family, thank god I hadn’t researched. I would have been so in my head about it.'"
The former actress admitted that she is on good terms with the 94-year-old.
"The Queen has always been wonderful to me, and we had breakfast together that morning," she said, referring to when they traveled together by train a few years ago. "She had given me a beautiful gift. I loved being in her company. She gave me some beautiful pearl earrings and a matching necklace. We were in the car going between engagements and she has a blanket that sits across her knees for warmth and it was chilly. She said, 'Meghan come on,' and put it over my knees as well."
