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Prince Harry has claimed that Prince William “backed away” from Meghan’s hug during their awkward first meeting.
In his Spare memoir bombshell, which hit stores today, the 38-year-old Duke of Sussex described the moment he introduced his brother to his girlfriend as a “classic clash of cultures”.
The meeting took place in late 2016 at the Prince and Princess of Wales’ Kensington Palace apartment, shortly before Prince Harry and Prince William went hunting.
The Duke explains how Meghan had already met Princess Eugenie, her then boyfriend Jack Brooksbank, the Duchess of York, Prince Andrew and the Queen.
Prince Harry introduced Prince William to Meghan in late 2016. Pictured: The Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in December 2017.
Describing the short walk from Harry and Meghan’s home, Nottingham Cottage, to apartment 1A, the duke admitted he was more nervous about his girlfriend meeting William than anyone else.
When his brother answered the door, Harry says William was “a bit fancy” in smart trousers and a shirt.
He wrote: ‘I introduced him to Meg, who leaned in and gave him a hug, which completely freaked him out. He backed off.
Giving some context to the awkward encounter, Prince Harry said his brother wouldn’t normally hug someone he doesn’t know.
Prince Harry says his brother “backed down” from Meghan’s hug during their first meeting at Kensington Palace. The two couples photographed in July 2018.
In contrast, Harry explained that this was just Meghan’s way of greeting strangers.
He continued: ‘Maybe Willy expected Meg to curtsy? It would have been protocol when meeting a member of the Royal Family for the first time, but she didn’t know and I didn’t tell her.
Elsewhere in the book, Prince Harry recounts having to remind the then-Suits actress that she would have to curtsy to the Queen when they met at Windsor Castle in 2016.
However, the father-of-two didn’t feel the need for her to do that when she met William because she “loved Suits.”
Prince Harry’s memoir Spare was released in the UK today. In the book, he describes the first meeting of his brother and his wife as a “classic collision of cultures.”
Prince Harry says he didn’t ask his girlfriend to curtsy for his brother because he “loved Suits”. Pictured: Meghan posing for a Season One Suits cast photo
After “exchanging a few warm words” at the entrance, the Prince of Wales invited the couple into the apartment, prompting Kate and William’s black cocker spaniel, Lupo, to begin barking.
When the couple asked about Kate, William told them that she was out with their children George and Charlotte.
After the brief reunion, Meghan again spent her first night alone at Nottingham Cottage as the brothers embarked on their shooting trip.
During her Netflix special, Meghan admitted she didn’t realize being a “hugger” was “jarring to some Brits” and described how she was barefoot when she first met Kate.
Meghan revealed she was barefoot and wearing ripped jeans when she met William and Kate
Sharing her experience of being in the Royal Family, Meghan said she was “shocked” by how “formal” the family was in private.
She said: “Even when Will and Kate came over and I first met her, I remember her in ripped jeans, she was barefoot.” Like she’s a hugger, I’ve always been a hugger. I didn’t realize that’s really jarring to a lot of Brits.
“I started to understand that the formality on the outside is reflected on the inside, that there is a way of being that looks forward and then you close the door and think ‘Okay, we can relax now.'” But that formality is maintained on both sides and that surprised me.’
The Duchess of Sussex also recalled meeting the Queen for the first time in 2016 in the second episode of the documentary series Harry & Meghan, which hit Netflix last month.
The controversial clip, which unimpressed viewers called “disrespectful” to the late Queen, shows the mother-of-two recreating the extremely deep curtsy she took to Her Majesty at the Royal Lodge in Windsor.
Before the meeting, Meghan said she was surprised to learn she would have to bow to the Queen and previously said Prince Harry helped her practice a proper bow to meet a member of the Royal Family.
Meghan claimed she didn’t know how to curtsy properly before meeting the Queen in the couple’s Netflix documentary series, which launched this month.
Meghan recreated the extremely deep curtsey she took for the Queen in 2016 on screen as Prince Harry looked on stony-faced. Viewers labeled him ‘disrespectful’
Meghan compared the ‘surreal’ encounter with the late Queen to a trip to the American themed dinner institution Medieval Times. She is pictured with the Queen in Chester in 2018.
Before the impromptu lunch at Windsor in 2016, Prince Harry said in the Netflix documentary series that he checked that his girlfriend knew how to curtsy to her grandmother.
Sharing her own experience from that day, Meghan likened the meal to a trip to the American restaurant franchise Medieval Times and joked that she “didn’t know what I was doing” as she curtsied extremely deeply for the Queen.
Describing her first meeting with the late monarch, Meghan said: “I’m starting to realize now that this is a big deal.” I mean, the Americans will understand this.
We have a Medieval Times dinner and tournament. It was just like that, I bowed as if I was like… “Nice to meet you, Her Majesty.”
‘It was so intense. And then when he’s gone, Eugenie and Jack and Fergie say, “you did great!” Thanks. She didn’t know what she was doing.
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Kate and Meghan ‘didn’t hit it off from the start’: Prince Harry tells Tom Bradby the Welsh ‘stereotyped’ his wife, and the ‘barrier’ was there before the two women fell out over wedding dresses bridesmaids and hormones
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