Statuary, without veil so as not to obscure the camera. Spontaneous, as Diana would have done, but not as she required the protocol. And those diva gloves and hat
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London. The bewildered look, who knows what Meghan may have thought at the funeral of Elizabeth II, the head of the family of that Firm of the Windsor in which the former actress entered with the fairytale yes of 19 May 2018. Exactly in that same St George’s Chapel in Windsor where on Monday was the Queen’s private funeral (after the state one in Westminster) of the queen? A royal family whose rules were soon tightened up to the decision to take a step back, and move overseas?
The images of the Duchess of Sussex in the days of Elizabeth II’s funeral they return all the confusion, the bewilderment of Prince Harry’s wife. And in the last frames of the solemn day – statuesque in Stella McCartney’s cloak – perhaps also the awareness that now, from now on, nothing will be the same. Also for the Sussex.
Invited to join the new princes of Wales, William and Kate, to thank the crowd of flowers and messages of condolence, Meghan risked a first naivete dictated by her unfamiliarity with the protocol from which she “fled” a year after the yes. The instinct-driven duchess immediately took the step towards the crowd, held back by Harry who, knowing him very well, knew that precedence went to the princes of Wales.
By car, traveling to Westminster Abbey sitting next to Sophie of Wessex, the daughter-in-law of the queen wife of Prince Edward, the contrast between the two figures was evident. Sophie’s tense face, the delicate oval almost deformed by authentic pain – motivated by her deep and long daily life with the queen, especially in recent years – contrasted with Meghan’s hieratic profile. She is ready to take advantage of the experience on the scene to interpret a pain for the camera.
In church, someone maliciously noticed that a candle has often obscured the Duchess’s face. Confining her in that shadow that she has always held tight to her. And of course, Meghan – used to being on the set – did not want to veil, hide her face behind a veil. As did Kate (as already at Filippo’s funeral) and Camilla.
The New York Times wrote that his wide-brimmed hat was more suitable for Montecito than for a funeral. The silhouette of the dress, perfect, the vertiginous heels, if on the one hand they enhanced the figure of the Duchess, on the other they contrasted with less showy, more whispered dresses like that of Alexander McQueen by Kate or the robe manteau signed Suzannah London by Sophie of Wessex with the embroidery of lilies of the valley, flowers loved by the queen.
A tear was seen on Meghan’s face during the ceremony. A tear left to flow with detachment, without trying to hold it back. Almost exhibiting it. As did King Charles who was moved several times (in Westminster and also in Windsor when he placed the flag on his mother’s coffin), but accustomed by tradition and by royal mission not to show weaknesses, to offer the world only what he the British call it stiff-upper-lip, in short, an intimate and not exhibited pain, his eyes were shining trying to escape the camera.
After the funeral, the natural gesture of taking the hand with which Harry and Meghan left the service did not go unnoticed.. It is not customary for the royal family to shake hands on such official occasions. Kate followed her children George and Charlotte by placing a love on her shoulder sometimes but without taking their little hands.
Speaking of hands, Meghan’s were covered over the elbow in long black gloves, perhaps more suited to a femme fatale than a funeral.. But the Duchess immediately remedied them by taking them off and remaining like the other women of the Royal family with her bare hands in the church. As it was natural.
The request for a meeting alone with King Charles, with a letter? Meghan’s attempt to tie up some broken threads, explain, after many words against the Royal family from 2020, from Megxit. A surprise move, if confirmed, because once again outside the box from the protocol. That protocol which at the funeral showed all its anachronistic but irresistible seduction. More than the glamor of the duchess.
September 22, 2022 (change September 22, 2022 | 12:56)
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