The Duchess of Sussex’s best curtsy moments have become the focus of a new viral social-media post, as images from high-profile royal events have won praise from fans on TikTok.
Meghan became embroiled in a curtsy controversy in 2022 after she performed a dramatic version of the reverential gesture in her Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, which saw her accused of mocking the tradition.
The movement is traditionally offered in Britain by female members of the royal family and court to the monarch as a mark of respect. It comprises a short bend to the knee and a bowing of the head. Curtsies are offered twice each day, once when first greeting the king and queen and then once again when saying goodbye.
Several members of the royal family have been praised by fans for their curtsies over the years, including Princess Diana, Princess Kate, Princess Charlotte and Meghan.
Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images/ALKIS KONSTANTINIDIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Uploaded to TikTok by user @itsmeren026 on April 2, a post containing three striking images of Meghan performing curtsies to Queen Elizabeth II has gone viral, gaining over 331,000 views on the platform so far.
The first image shown was taken after Queen Elizabeth’s death in September 2022, where Meghan joined senior members of the royal family to pay their respects at the monarch’s lying-in-state ceremony at Westminster Hall in London. The royals each offered solemn bows and curtsies to the queen’s coffin at the end of the event, with Meghan’s deep offering caught on camera.
The second and third images of the post were captured on Christmas Day in 2017 and 2018. Meghan became the first royal fiancée to receive an invite to spend Christmas Day with Queen Elizabeth and her family in 2017, prior to her wedding to Prince Harry.
At St. Mary Magdalene Church on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England, Meghan was photographed curtsying to the queen as she left morning service. This was repeated the following year.
Captioned “Curtsy from Meghan, Duchess of Sussex,” the viral post has received in excess of 19,000 likes and almost 500 comments, many of which have praised the royal with others referencing her Netflix curtsy controversy.
“She acted more elegantly than anyone. She has the same energy as Diana. I can feel it,” wrote one TikTok user.
“The 1st curtsy is everything. Cause I would have fell straight on my face with those heels,” posted another, with a further comment reading: “I just remember the Netflix when she made fun of this.”
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek‘s royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.