Meghan Markle's attendance at a Remembrance Sunday event has been fingered as showing the moment the duchess "lost her spark," during a time when private royal conflict burst into the public domain.
The Duchess of Sussex had recently returned from a successful tour of Australia and the South Pacific in 2018 when a royal biography, Charles at 70, first painted her as a demanding character, suggesting Prince Harry had told palace staff: "What Meghan wants, Meghan gets."
And stories in the press suggested Queen Elizabeth II had warned Harry over Meghan's behavior in relation to her tiara prior to her wedding that May.
It was the start of an era which Meghan would later say was the turning point at which her royal experience soured and within days of the stories emerging she attended Britain's national service of remembrance at The Cenotaph, in London, on November 11, 2018.
A clip of her watching the moving event went viral on TikTok after the U.K.-based working royals, including Princess Kate, turned out at this year's Remembrance Sunday service on November 10.
The footage was liked 8,000 times and viewed 180,000 times after it was posted with the message: "Once Upon A Time when Remembrance Service was something to look forward to.đ€
"And this when i knew my Princess Meghan lost her spark i could see it in her eyes.
"But Thank God she made it out now she and her beautiful family is blossoming."
One reply read, "Bless her. she looks so frightened," while another said: "Meghan was not in the room with us. You can see the sadness đ„ș thank God she has the light back in her eyes."
A third person wrote: "One day the Royal family will beg them 2 come back, â€â€this two."
Meghan, Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Kate all watched the service from a balcony, though Meghan was positioned on a separate balcony with Elke Budenbender, the first lady of Germany.
The stories in the British press were the public expression of a royal rift that had already taken shape behind closed doors.
That October, Jason Knauf, communications secretary at Kensington Palace, had privately emailed a superior to accuse the duchess of bullying two PAs out of the royal household.
And as early as June 2018 the Sussexes sat down with Prince William and Princess Kate to try to work out problems between the two couples.
Harry wrote in Spare that Kate said Meghan "hurt my feelings" with a comment suggesting she had baby brain shortly after Prince Louis was born.
"It's rude, Meghan. It's not what's done here in Britain," William replied. Meghan then said: "Kindly take your finger out of my face."
"Was this really happening?" Harry wrote. "Had it actually come to this? Shouting at each other about place cards and hormones?
"Meg said she'd never intentionally do anything to hurt Kate, and if she ever
did, she asked Kate to please just let her know so it wouldn't happen again."
Jack Royston is Newsweek's chief royal correspondent based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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