"A yawning silence threatened to swallow us all whole," Harry wrote in 'Spare' after Meghan joked with Kate at her first Trooping the Colour
Credit: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Meghan Markle once joked about her first Trooping the Colour, but Prince Harry later recalled an awkward silence that followed
- Harry described the 2018 interaction in his memoir, Spare, writing, “A yawning silence threatened to swallow us all whole”
- The 2026 Trooping the Colour will take place on Saturday, June 13, and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not be in attendance
In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry recounted an awkward moment between Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton at the Duchess of Sussex's first Trooping the Colour.
According to the Duke of Sussex, the vibe among the royals was initially "good" and "upbeat" at the 2018 event, which took place just weeks after Harry and Meghan's royal wedding.
But one brief exchange stood out. When Kate asked Meghan what she thought of her first Trooping the Colour, Meghan responded with a quip.
"Kate asked Meg what she thought of her first Trooping the Colour. And Meg joked: Colourful," Harry wrote in his 2023 best-selling memoir Spare.
What followed, according to Harry, was an uncomfortable pause. "A yawning silence threatened to swallow us all whole," he wrote.
Credit: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty
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Meghan and Harry attended the event, which is King Charles' annual birthday parade, just weeks after tying the knot in 2018.
Before the Duke of Sussex, 41, published his memoir, he shared that the "British press created" and would later "dissect" the relationship between Meghan and Kate.
"Especially when within my family, you have the newspapers laid out pretty much in every single palace house that is around. So yes, it, it does, it creates this competition," he told ITV's Tom Bradby in January 2023. "And if you're the new kids on the block and you come in and you're stealing the limelight — not a limelight that you've asked to be put in or have a limelight — that the press, the British press have decided for you."
Relations have remained strained in the years since the couple stepped back from royal duties in 2020 and relocated to California, with Harry publicly expressing a desire for reconciliation while acknowledging that significant issues remain unresolved.
Credit: Samir Hussein/WireImage
As for the upcoming Trooping the Colour, set for Saturday, June 13, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not be in attendance. Prince Harry and Meghan have not been invited to the event in recent years since stepping back as working royals — and this year is no exception.
Additionally, once King Charles' reign began, Buckingham Palace restricted the iconic balcony appearance to working members of the royal family. Now the event serves as a showcase for the monarchy's working royals under King Charles' slimmer-monarchy vision.
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