Meghan Markle has been roasted on social media for saying she thought being asked to curtsy to Queen Elizabeth II was a "joke" as a video of her close friend Serena Williams performing the gesture for the monarch seven years earlier has been shared online.
Meghan described being asked to curtsy to the queen by Prince Harry ahead of her first introduction to Elizabeth in 2017 in the couple's Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, which debuted in December.
"I remember in the car driving up and he [Harry] said, 'You know how to curtsy right?'" Meghan told viewers. "And I just thought it was a joke."
The camera then cut to Harry, who said: "How do you explain that you bow to your grandmother and that you will need to curtsy? Especially to an American, like, that's weird."
After this, Meghan re-enacted a dramatic medieval-style curtsy, which earned her criticism at the time of the show's release for being insensitive to British customs.
Curtsying is a traditional form of reverence offered to royalty in Britain, though there is no official requirement for it to be offered by members of the public. For members of the royal family, though, there is an expectation that they curtsy to the monarch upon first greeting them and then saying goodbye.
In a newly resurfaced video being shared online, retired tennis pro Serena Williams, 41, is seen performing a curtsy for Queen Elizabeth when the monarch visited the 2010 Wimbledon Championships in London.
The video, uploaded by TikTok user ladybrownshugar, has been viewed more than 1.5 million times and has the caption: "Shocking! Even Meghan's American bestie Serena knew how to curtsy to the queen," with an additional line reading, "no excuses please!"
Williams and Meghan have a longstanding friendship, affirmed in 2022 when the duchess invited the tennis star to appear in the inaugural episode of her Archetypes podcast.
The pair are reported to have met in 2014 during a charity sports game, with Meghan later writing on her personal blog The Tig: "We hit it off immediately, taking pictures, laughing and chatting—not about tennis or acting, but about good old-fashioned girly stuff."
In the Archetypes interview, Williams and the duchess discussed their friendship, with the tennis star revealing she sought advice from both Meghan and Prince Harry when making the decision to retire professionally.
Many commenters on the TikTok video of Williams' curtsy to the queen have roasted Meghan over her earlier docuseries claims.
"That curtsy story of hers was really unbelievable. Unless yeah she lived in the mountains or something," wrote one TikToker.
"Anyone that doesn't know has been living under a rock," posted another.
Despite this, a number of TikTok commenters also posted in the defense of the duchess.
"Meghan could've been extremely nervous and forgotten things, remember yall this is a world leader," wrote one, with another adding: "She didn't think that was a real thing in private 🙄 she thought being a grandmother came before being a queen."
Meghan performed a number of public curtsies to Queen Elizabeth II during her lifetime, first during a Christmas service in 2017, then again at her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, in Berkshire, England.
The last curtsy the duchess performed in public was in September 2022 during the queen's state funeral when her coffin left Westminster Abbey in London for St George's Chapel.
Newsweek approached representatives of Meghan Markle and Serena Williams for comment.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith 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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James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more
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