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Meghan Markle didn’t copy a look from Princess Diana at the Queen’s funeral

September 22, 2022

Social media users claim Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle copied a look from the late Princess Diana after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. But the photo shared in the messages is old; it was taken during a Remembrance Day ceremony in 2019, and its attire adhered to the usual dress code for the commemoration of the 1918 armistice.

“People say Meghan is a villain for this,” read a tweet from Sept. 12, 2022. “Does anyone else think dressing up as your husband’s dead mother for a funeral is weird?”

The post includes a photo montage of Markle and Diana wearing black coats and hats. Similar tweets racked up thousands of shares on Twitter days after the Queen’s death on September 8, 2022.

“I’m here for this level of pettiness,” says another Sept. 12 tweet with #QueenElizabeth.

Meghan Markle didn't copy Princess Diana's look at Queens funeral

The side-by-side images have also been circulating on Instagram and Facebook.

But a reverse image search shows Markle’s photo was taken at a Remembrance Day ceremony on November 11, 2019.

The photo of Diana, who died in a car accident in 1997, was taken on Remembrance Day in 1991, as seen here.

Jessica Storoschuk, historian and author of a blog on the British royal family, told AFP that Diana and Markle both wore a poppy “to honor veterans and those who did not return” from the First World War .

“In Britain, Canada and elsewhere, this would be immediately understood in the context of Remembrance Day,” she said.

Brooke Newman, a historian of modern Britain and the royal family at Virginia Commonwealth University, agreed.

“Dressing in a simple black belted overcoat adorned with a single red poppy, the two women attempted to divert attention from themselves and focus on the central objective of the solemn occasion: the commemoration of the anniversary of the armistice of 1918,” she said.

Other royal women have been pictured in similar looks on other Remembrance Days. Below is an image of Princess Catherine wearing black with a red poppy in 2021.

For Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, which took place on September 19, the women of the royal family wore “what was expected” of them, Storoschuk said: a knee-length black dress or coat or longer, with a black hat and black tights.

Markle appeared in black at several public ceremonies to bid farewell to the Queen.

On September 10, King Charles III’s sons, William and Harry, also made a public appearance accompanied by their wives to greet the crowds gathered outside Windsor Castle.

Harry and his wife have been under intense media scrutiny since the start of 2020, when they stepped down from royal duties and moved to Los Angeles. The couple’s interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, as well as their lucrative deals with streaming platforms such as Spotify and AppleTV, have only heightened that attention.

Newman said the posts streaming the game online in a scrutiny of Markle’s fashion choices.

“Royal family members, and women in particular, are subject to intense media scrutiny and are therefore very careful about their clothing and jewelry choices,” she said. “As the only person of African descent to have married into the Royal Family, Meghan has faced an unprecedented level of negative criticism over her clothing choices, no matter how carefully she selects her outfits.” …AFP