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Meghan Markle’s ‘Creepy’ Gesture from Her Wedding Day Caught on Camera Again — and Fans Have Questions

Meghan Markle faces fresh criticism over 'control' tactics after a viral video highlights her singular tapping gesture during the 2026 Australia tour.

While Meghan Markle’s recent tour of Australia was meant to showcase royal-style diplomacy, eagle-eyed critics are instead highlighting a bizarre detail: her index finger. The Duchess of Sussex has again come under fire after a viral video montage showcased her singular, repetitive tapping gesture during her time Down Under — a move that critics are now calling a calculated power play. The fascination surrounding the move reached its peak when Prince Harry and Markle visited Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital. While greeting a hospital worker, the Duchess was captured performing a 'creepy' one-finger tap on the woman’s hand, sparking an intense reaction from royal watchers online.

Far from being a standalone moment, social media sleuths soon traced the tappings back to several other key royal engagements, suggesting they have been a consistent part of the Duchess’s nonverbal arsenal for years. Beyond the Australian footage, fans pinpointed two major occasions where Markle performed the same move. The first was her 2018 wedding, where she met King Charles mid-aisle—and the second was during the 2022 funeral of Queen Elizabeth, when she appeared to brush a gloved hand against Princess Catherine as she passed. The frequency of the gesture has led to a surge in online theories, with many debating her true intentions, particularly when directed at senior members of the Royal Family.

While some dismiss the tap as a nervous tic or a simple greeting, social media users on X are convinced it is a subtle tool for social maneuvering. Rather than a gesture of affection, the consensus among detractors is that it is more about authority. One user speculated, “To me it's symbolic of her need to control... 'I have the upper hand, and this is a little reminder to let you know, I run the show,” while another described the move as strikingly clinical, suggesting, “It’s just another way she tries to control people and/or show dominance. I don’t think I have ever seen anybody who has as many tics and tells as Duchess Doom.”

Others simply found the gesture startling, admitting they were taken aback when they first noticed the tapping. A third netizen gasped, “That is one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen in a vast universe of bizarre body language,” while a fourth user added, “I don't get what does that mean to her. She has the oddest behaviors.” The physical nature of the tap itself — placing a finger over another person’s hand — is what truly unsettled observers and experts alike. After the video went viral, body language expert Inbaal Honigman told Radar Online that much can be read into the "positioning of this one-finger tap.”

She continued, “When the touching finger is placed over the other person's hand, it indicates a desire for control, whereas if the finger were placed below the other person's hand, it's a more meek way of requesting attention.” The expert also pointed out, “A five-finger tap would be warmer and more personable, while the one-finger tap is colder and more discreet.”