“When Will and Kate came over and I had met her for the first time, they came over for dinner,” she recalled. “I remember I was in ripped jeans and barefoot.” She added emphatically, “Like I was a hugger, always been a hugger! I didn’t realize that that is really jarring for a lot of Brits.” Markle explained that the stiffness she felt from William and Kate wasn’t deliberate on their part, but just how they’d been conditioned to behave both in public and private. “There is a forward-facing way of being and then you close the door and you [say], ‘Phew, we can relax now!’ But that formality carries over on both sides. And that was surprising to me,” she said. “I guess I’d start to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside, carried through on the inside.” She said of the experience as a whole, “It’s so funny if I look back at it now because now I know so much. And I’m so glad I didn’t then because I could just authentically be myself without so much preparedness.” Next, check out the rest of the bombshell revelations from Harry & Meghan.
