Meghan Markle's sartorial choices continue to eclipse reports of her first official duties as the Duchess of Sussex. Despite the fact that she's already become fast friends with the Queen, and accompanied her on a solo outing back in June - where she travelled on the royal train (something that is unprecedented for such a new member of Kensington Palace) - we're apparently more interested in why the erstwhile actress is unable to wear pants in front of Her Royal Highness.
But as it turns out, even Meghan herself doesn't understand why the Queen prefers that she doesn't wear pants. In fact, it's been reported that the Duchess of Sussex frequently asks Prince Harry for the reasoning behind various royal rules.
Citing an unidentified source, People magazine reports that Meghan Markle "has found certain rules in the royal household difficult to understand, like the fact that the Queen prefers women in dresses or skirts rather than trouser suits, and is often asking Harry why things have to be done in a certain way."
"I think she finds it a little frustrating at times, but this is her new life, and she has to deal with it," the insider continued.
Meghan's style has certainly evolved since joining the royal family. In all of her official royal engagements to date, the 37-year-old has opted to wear more traditional designs with a muted colour palette. This is especially evident when she's with the Queen. While Her Majesty is rarely seen out of her signature brights, Meghan chose to don a blush pink Carolina Herrera dress at Trooping the Colour. And then, at their solo outing to Chester, the Queen wore a lime green ensemble, whereas Megan wore a nude Givenchy dress.
This is, of course, a far cry from the way that Meghan dressed herself when she was an actress, and before she got engaged to Prince Harry.
This is all to ensure that the monarch takes centre stage at public outings. A fact confirmed by fashion commentator, Lucas Armitage. Speaking to the Daily Mail, she stated "I feel this is a clever styling tactic as it will always work with the Queen's look; she is known and applauded for her use of bright fun colours."
Etiquette expert, William Hanson corroborated:
"The key really is that it isn't a rule solely for Meghan, it's for any ancillary member of the royal family. When you attend an event with the Queen, she is the star of the show and you don't want to upstage her too much. I don't think it will be an overly conscious effort on Meghan's part, but the Queen often wears bright, block colours deliberately, so people six deep in a crowd can see her, especially as she's not very tall. There is logic to the Queen's wardrobe."
In any case, royal photographer, Mark Stewart, has alleged that Prince Harry has taken a "hands-on approach" to teaching Meghan the various royal customs.
"You can see Prince Harry's hands-on approach, steering her, helping her," he told People.
