Meghan found royal pecking order ‘puzzling’ when she joined Kate at Wimbledon in 2018…as body language expert reveals her ‘discomfort’ at realising all eyes were on future Queen

Meghan Markle’s disquiet about the royal pecking order was seemingly apparent when she joined the now-Princess of Wales for their first joint engagement after marrying Prince Harry. 

The Duchess of Sussex, now 44, showed signs of ‘discomfort’ when she accompanied Catherine to the Wimbledon Ladies’ Singles Final eight years ago, as a body language expert claimed Meghan tried to ‘break rank’. 

On July 14, 2018, less than two months after Prince Harry and Meghan’s royal wedding, the new Duchess of Sussex joined her sister-in-law for their first royal outing without their husbands. 

The pair travelled to SW19 to watch Meghan’s long-time ‘bestie’ Serena Williams take on German ace Angelique Kerber on centre court at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club. 

While photos from the day showed Meghan and Catherine smiling and whispering to each other while watching the tense final, a video of them seemingly tells a different story. 

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Judi James has highlighted the ‘subtle’ tensions between Meghan and Catherine, who were dubbed the ‘duelling Duchesses’ by the time they returned to Wimbledon the following year amid heightened speculation they were in a feud. 

Analysing a clip of the now-estranged sisters-in-law, Ms James highlighted Meghan’s reaction to realising ‘all eyes and smiles seemed to be aimed’ at Catherine. 

As they were greeted outside the club in London, footage showed Catherine, dressed in a polka-dotted dress, walking in front of Meghan, as Ms James noted a ‘misstep in terms of behavioural expectations’. 

The Duchess of Sussex, now 44, showed signs of ‘discomfort’ when she accompanied Catherine to the Wimbledon Ladies’ Singles Final eight years ago, a body language expert has said 

‘There are hints from Meghan’s body language that suggest she expected this to be more of a friendship and double act appearance from start to finish,’ Ms James told The Daily Mail. 

As Meghan got out of the car and walked around to join Catherine, she was seemingly ‘forced to wait’ for the future Queen, with Ms James suggesting ‘all eyes and smiles seemed to be aimed at Catherine’. 

She highlighted how Meghan tried to shoot a ‘rather awkward looking “friendship” smile’ at Catherine, but Prince William’s wife was in ‘regal mode’ while carrying out the official engagement in her role as royal patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. 

Ms James said: ‘Meghan appears to throw Kate a rather awkward-looking “friendship” smile of public recognition, and there is a suggestion from this tie-sign that she expects to join Kate. 

‘But Kate is in regal mode rather than friendship mode, and she steps out of the car to move and lean forward past Meghan, using a wide, professional “social” smile as she performs greeting rituals with her hosts rather than pulling Meghan forward to introduce her personally for them to work together.’ 

Since quitting the Royal Family, Montecito-based Meghan has displayed her ‘preferred style of cues, prompts, and leading rituals’ during public outings with Prince Harry. 

Ms James noted how it is common for Meghan to take the lead and often speak over her husband in interactions with the press and members of the public, meaning the new Duchess likely found playing second fiddle to Catherine ‘puzzling’. 

‘We’ve seen Meghan’s preferred style of cues, prompts and leading rituals with her body language with Harry since they left the UK,’ the body language expert explained. 

The pair travelled to SW19 to watch Meghan’s long-time ‘bestie’ Serena Williams take on German ace Angelique Kerber on centre court at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club on July 14, 2018

Analysing a clip of the now-estranged sisters-in-law, Ms James highlighted Meghan’s reaction to realising ‘all eyes and smiles seemed to be aimed’ at Catherine

‘When he veers into regal behaviours, she will often nudge herself forward, or step in first, so this hierarchical pecking order in the UK might easily have seemed puzzling to her.’ 

This becomes apparent when Meghan ‘performs a small gesture that implies some awkwardness’ while waiting for Catherine as she greeted her host. 

‘As the two women go to walk towards the line-up, there is a host for each, but Meghan again seems to attempt to pair with Kate, stepping to speak to her,’ Ms James said. 

At this point, Catherine’s smile ‘appears to drop slightly’ as she may have become aware of Meghan ‘breaking rank to change the formation’ before she rejoined her host for the event. 

‘Meghan performs another gesture of what looks like awkwardness or indecision as she brings her arm up to touch the strands of her hair at the side of her face,’ Ms James said. 

According to the body language expert, Meghan’s ‘discomfort’ becomes even clearer when the duo are introduced to the ball boys and girls, with Catherine leading the way. 

‘Meghan expects to move on ahead to join [the now Princess of Wales] but her host [dressed in a pink dress] keeps her talking as she was probably aware of the “queuing” protocol and Meghan is held in a mid-step gesture as she tries to walk forward but her head is turned to listen to her host,’ Ms James said.

As a result, Meghan’s non-verbal responses ‘do hint at some discomfort’, she continued. 

Ms James highlighted how Meghan ‘places one hand into the neck of her shirt, around her throat, suggesting vulnerability’ and ‘constantly touches her hair in a partial cut-off ritual’. 

‘It’s not until the two Duchesses are seated in the royal box that there is any opportunity for Meghan to perform what would be seen as friendship rituals that might define a more equal-status social footing.’

Since quitting the Royal Family, details about why Meghan and Kate’s relationship may have broken down have been revealed – from the infamous row about the bridesmaids’ dresses to the ‘baby brain’ comment. 

However, strain began to emerge even before their first meeting in January 2017, according to royal biographer Tina Brown.

Harry and Meghan had been together for just six months when the Duke introduced his girlfriend to Kate.

At the time, it was reported that the meeting had gone ‘really well’ and it was ‘important’ to Harry that the princess liked his new partner.

However, despite the reports, Meghan recounted in the couple’s Netflix series Harry & Meghan that the introduction had been awkward.

She said: ‘Even when Will and Kate came over and I was meeting her for the first time, I remember I was in ripped jeans, I was barefoot. Like I was a hugger, I have always been a hugger. I didn’t realise that is really jarring for a lot of Brits.’

‘I started to understand that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside, that there is a forward-facing way of being and then you close the door and think “Okay, we can relax now”.

‘But that formality carries over on both sides, and that was surprising to me.’

Writing in her book Palace Papers, Ms Brown noted: ‘Meghan later said she found Kate to be cool of temperament, but that’s likely because Meghan is a “gusher”, who hugged even the guards outside Kensington Palace.

‘Kate is not a woman given to spontaneous rapport. She’d avoided recruiting new girlfriends to her inner circle/slumber party list since Marlborough and St Andrew’s.

‘Preoccupied with two young children and public duty, Kate had no serious reason to see the latest and most glamorous of Harry’s string of girlfriends as a potential threat.’

But when the engagement between Harry and Meghan was announced on November 27, 2017, the former Suits actress paid tribute to Kate for welcoming her into the family.

‘Catherine has been absolutely amazing, as has William as well, you know, fantastic support,’ Meghan said in an interview.

But there were reports that Kate and Meghan clashed over bridesmaid dresses ahead of the wedding in 2018.

It was claimed Meghan had made Kate cry during a row over the outfits.

One unnamed friend claimed that Kate wanted to follow ‘protocol’ with the bridesmaids, including Charlotte, then three, wearing tights – but Meghan disagreed.

In his book, Revenge, Tom Bower claimed unnamed sources told him Kate and Meghan disagreed over the length of Princess Charlotte’s hemline and the fit of her dress.

He also claimed Meghan’s ‘insistence’ was ‘supported’ by Jessica Mulroney, adding: ‘Some would say that Meghan compared Ivy [Mulroney’s daughter] favourably against Charlotte.’

The Duchess of Sussex later disagreed in her bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview, claiming it was the other way around and adding: ‘She [Kate] was upset about something, but she owned it, and she apologised. And she brought me flowers.’

At the time, royal expert Katie Nicholl said Kate ‘never wanted’ reports of a rift to come out in the press and had found the situation ‘mortifying’.

‘From what I hear, there are different versions of the bridesmaid story, not just the one Meghan discussed,’ the royal expert said. 

 She went on to claim that Kate was left ‘saddened, disappointed and hurt’ in the wake of Meghan and Harry’s tell-all interview.

As Meghan was introduced into royal life, Harry wrote that there were signs of discord between his future wife and his sister-in-law.

In his controversial memoir Spare, which was released in 2023, King Charles’s estranged son detailed how Meghan asked to borrow lip gloss from Kate ahead of their appearance at the first Royal Foundation forum summit in February 2018.

He wrote that Kate was surprised, but rummaged around in her bag before offering it to Meghan.

He claimed that Meghan applied a little gloss to her finger and rubbed it across her lips before Kate made a ‘disgusted’ face.

The summit marked the first official appearance of the ‘Fab Four’ to announce that Meghan would become the fourth patron of the Royal Foundation.

At the time, Harry said ‘working as family does have its challenges’, but insisted ‘we’re stuck together for the rest of our lives’.