Meghan Markle faced ‘yawning silence’ after awkward Kate Middleton encounter at Trooping the Colour

An awkward exchange between Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton at Trooping the Colour in 2018 ended in an uncomfortable silence, as described by Prince Harry in his memoir.

As Trooping the Colour approaches once again, memories of past royal celebrations have resurfaced. One story, highlighted in Prince Harry’s memoir Spare, has been making the rounds again.

Trooping the Colour marks the monarch’s official birthday with a military parade.

In his bombshell book, Harry recalled Meghan Markle’s first Trooping the Colour in 2018, just weeks after their star-studded Windsor wedding.

While the public saw a newlywed duchess glowing in blush pink alongside her husband and the rest of the family, Harry claims there was an awkward encounter behind the scenes. One that left Meghan feeling the chill of royal life.

Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton at Trooping the Colour

According to Spare, after the traditional balcony flypast, the royals retreated inside Buckingham Palace.

Harry recalled the moment when Kate asked Meghan for her thoughts on her first Trooping the Colour experience.

Meghan responded with a playful quip: “Colourful.”

But instead of laughter, Harry claimed, there was… nothing.

“A yawning silence threatened to swallow us all whole,” he wrote. The joke, intended as a light, casual comment, seemingly fell flat in the room.

While the moment may have been fleeting, it seems to have left a lasting impression.

A yawning silence threatened to swallow us all whole.

For Meghan, who was still adjusting to her new role and navigating a family that, according to Harry, “stereotyped” her, this encounter was just one of many that fed into a larger sense of distance.

In his book, Harry wrote candidly about the barriers he believes were put up. He claimed that Prince William allegedly referred to Meghan as “difficult” and that tensions only worsened in the lead-up to their wedding.

The 2018 Trooping the Colour wasn’t Meghan’s last appearance at the event. She returned in 2019 and again in 2022 for Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee. However, she and Harry were notably absent from the Buckingham Palace balcony.

Meghan and Kate bridesmaid row

In Spare, Harry also claimed that Kate struggled to connect with Meghan’s more relaxed, American personality.

The tension reached a head in the run-up to Harry and Meghan’s wedding, when the now-famous bridesmaid dress fitting incident between Kate and Meghan reportedly left both women in tears.

However, Harry and Meghan later disputed the narrative that Meghan made Kate cry, suggesting it was the other way around.

Harry also recounts an awkward moment when Meghan asked to borrow Kate’s lip gloss at an event, only for Kate to grimace as she reluctantly handed it over.

These seemingly minor moments were part of a larger pattern of exclusion and coolness that Meghan experienced as she tried to integrate into the royal family.

Trooping the Colour 2025

Meanwhile, in 2023 and again in 2024, the event continued without the Sussexes, who remain in California with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Back in the UK, King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William and Princess Kate took centre stage, with Kate making a surprise appearance in 2024 following her cancer diagnosis.

This year, Trooping the Colour will return.

However, bookies have given Prince Harry 5/2 odds to make a surprise appearance. Due to his pleas earlier this year to reconcile with his family, it’s been theorised that he may make his return to a royal event.