Meghan Markle’s one-word response that stunned Princess Catherine into silence during her first Trooping the Colour appearance in 2018 has resurfaced amid this year’s elaborate celebrations.
Members of the royal family stepped out for the annual event, which has been held in celebration of the British monarch’s birthday for more than 260 years.
While the day passed without a hitch, the absence of the estranged Prince Harry and Meghan Markle prompted memories from the Trooping the Colour events from years past.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex last attended the event in 2019, before stepping back from their roles as working members of the British royal family.
In his memoir, Spare, Prince Harry detailed the couple’s first Trooping the Colour appearance together in 2018, just three weeks after their wedding.
Harry wrote that moments after the family stepped off the Buckingham Palace balcony following their greeting to the crowds below, the Princess of Wales asked Meghan her thoughts on the event.
“Kate asked Meg what she thought of her first Trooping the Colour. And Meg joked: Colourful,” Harry wrote.
The response allegedly left Princess Catherine less than impressed, resulting in an awkward silence that Harry said “threatened to swallow us all whole”.
“A yawning silence threatened to swallow us all whole,” Harry wrote.
The moment appeared to foreshadow the future relationship between Meghan Markle and Princess Catherine as tensions continued to grow.
In another reported row between the two women, Princess Catherine allegedly left Meghan in tears just days before her wedding to Prince Harry over Princess Charlotte’s ill-fitting bridesmaid dress.
“Charlotte’s dress is too big, too long, too baggy. She cried when she tried it on at home,” Kate wrote to Meghan four days before her wedding according to Spare.
“Right, and I told you the tailor has been standing by since 8am. Here. At KP. Can you take Charlotte to have it altered, as the other mums are doing?” Meghan replied.
Kate responded firmly, saying: “No, the dresses need to be remade”.
“I’m not sure what else to say. If the dress doesn’t fit then please take Charlotte to see Ajay. He’s been waiting all day,” Meghan responded.
Kate allegedly ended the conversation bluntly, saying “fine”.
Harry claimed that the heated exchange left Meghan “sobbing on the floor” afterwards.
Tensions have continued to simmer in the years since the couple’s departure from royal life, with their future relationship with the monarchy remaining uncertain.
The revelations made by Prince Harry following his decision to step back as a working royal – including his bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey and his tell-all memoir – have reportedly left members of the royal family wary of the Duke of Sussex.
Reports have suggested Prince William has little desire to reconcile with his brother, with some commentators pointing to Harry’s public disclosure and the Sussexes quasi-royal lifestyle as contributing factors.
The brothers were last publicly seen together in August 2024 at the funeral of their uncle Lord Robert Fellowes in Norfolk, England.
Onlookers reported that they sat apart, maintained their distance and did not speak to one another.
The last time Harry reportedly saw his father, King Charles, was during a quick tea time in September 2025, around 19 months after their last reported catch-up.