Royal fan reflects on moment she ‘panic-lied’ after Meghan Markle asked if flower bouquet was from her garden

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A royal fan has amusingly revealed that she once “panic-lied” to Meghan Markle after the Duchess of Sussex asked whether a bouquet of flowers had come from her garden.

Laura-Ann, who goes by the username @allthatspretty on TikTok, reflected on her interaction with the duchess in a recent video, in which she could be seen giving Meghan a bouquet of flowers from Tesco after queuing to meet her and her then-fiancé Prince Harry during their visit to Northern Ireland in 2018.

In the clip, the duchess, who can be seen greeting fans, approached Laura-Ann and shook her hand before asking her name. After Laura-Ann offered her congratulations to the soon-to-be royal ahead of her royal wedding, she handed her the small foil-wrapped bouquet of flowers.

The gesture prompted gratitude from the duchess, who then asked Laura-Ann whether the flowers had come from her garden, to which Laura-Ann responded: “Yes, yeah,” while smiling and giggling.

“Oh my goodness, how sweet!” Meghan can be heard responding. “I love them. Thank you for thinking of me, that’s really, really kind.”

However, in the caption on the video, Laura-Ann revealed that the flowers had actually been purchased Tesco, but that she had panicked in the moment.

“That time I panic-lied to Meghan that the flowers I gave her were from my garden,” she wrote. “They were really just from Tesco.”

In the caption, Laura-Ann jokingly added: “They are whatever you want them to be Meghan.”

The clip has since gone viral on TikTok, where it has been viewed more than 12.2m times, and prompted amused responses from viewers.

“I can’t stop laughing, no hesitation at all,” one person wrote of Laura-Ann’s response to the Duchess of Sussex.

Another person said: “This has no right being this funny.”

“Imagine her finding a barcode on the wrapping,” someone else joked.

However, others acknowledged that they would have done the same thing if they had been in Laura-Ann’s position, as some suggested that it would have been awkward to correct Meghan.

“I mean what were you supposed to do, correct her? I would’ve lied too babes,” one person wrote, while someone else said: “I would do the exact same thing.”

Another person jokingly claimed that Laura-Ann “had no choice” at the moment except to lie about the origin of the flower bouquet.

While many viewers were amused by the interaction, the video also prompted praise for Meghan, as TikTok users were appreciative of the kindness she displayed while greeting fans.

“She seems so kind,” one person wrote, while another said: “Aww she sounds so genuine and sincere in her thank you.”

In a follow-up video, Laura-Ann also addressed a comment from a viewer who had written: “The lady in the background eyeing you up knowing that you were lying,” with the TikToker then zooming in on the video to show one of the duchess’s aides appearing to smirk during the interaction.

“She knew,” Laura-Ann captioned the clip along with a laughing face emoji, prompting one viewer to joke that Meghan’s aide “was like: ‘I saw that at Tesco yesterday’”.

Another person admitted that they “couldn’t stop laughing” over the interaction, while someone else added: “She really looked at you like ‘YOUR garden? Yeah okay.’”

“I’m crying at this,” one viewer wrote.

On Instagram, where Laura-Ann has an entire highlights reel dedicated to the day she met Meghan and Prince Harry, she reflected on the now-viral moment, which she described as “Tesco [flower]-gate”.

“Those famous ‘flarrs from my garden’, my no hesitation answer of ‘yes, yes’ and the anxious giggle of lies,” Laura-Ann captioned the infamous clip, before adding: “I’d do it again tomorrow, Tescos, tinfoil and all.”

On TikTok, Laura-Ann also revealed that, in the three years since the interaction, she has started a company called Little Buds, which creates “luxury artificial bouquets”.

The update also prompted amusement from viewers, with one person writing: “Lmao it wasn’t a lie it was a manifestation,” while another jokingly asked whether the artificial arrangements would be available at Tesco.

While speaking to The Independent, Laura-Ann reflected on the moment, with the influencer explaining that she was “just so nervous” and didn’t want to “correct” the duchess.

“She is incredibly beautiful and charming in person and I just agreed with everything she said basically, including that the flowers were from my garden,” she continued, adding that it was a joke after among her friends because she does “not have green fingers at all”.

According to Laura-Ann, it was her lack of a green thumb, and because she is a mother to three young boys and doesn’t have time for “homegrown flowers or gardening,” that she set up her company.