Meghan Markle has always spoken highly of her time with the Queen.
She has revealed the pair had a "lovely and easy" friendship, with the late monarch "always being wonderful" to Meghan. Speaking to Oprah Winfrey during her bombshell interview, the 42-year-old said: "The queen has always been wonderful to me. I've loved being in her company. She's always been warm, welcoming, and inviting."
But during their first meeting, the former actress was caught off guard when they met for the first time. When she had first begun dating Prince Harry, they were travelling alone when he dropped the news his grandmother wanted to meet her.
Following a church service, she would have to meet the Queen at Royal Lodge in Windsor. She recalled: "Harry and I are in the car, and he says, 'Okay, well, my grandmother says you're going to meet her." Meghan's first reaction was, "I loved my grandmother, I used to take care of my grandma, this is great."
However, when Harry asked her if she knew how to curtsey, Meghan began to feel worried. Years later, Meghan would tell Oprah of a worrying premonition before that first meeting.
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"That was really the first moment that the penny dropped that this wasn't going to be easy for me," confessed the star, who stepped down as a working royal with Harry in 2020. Determined to get it right, she and Harry practiced curtseying, "right in front of the house," ensuring she did it "deeply, to show respect."
A quick learner, Meghan said all her nerves disappeared once she came face-to-face with the Queen. "We just sat there and we chatted, and it was lovely and easy," she added. Meghan carried out one joint engagement with the Queen during her short time as a working royal, travelling to Chester with the monarch for a day of engagements.
The Queen also offered her a helping hand, guiding her with the right protocol as they chatted and joked at the event. And the Queen also broke from the rules shortly after the couple's engagement in 2017, when she invited Meghan to Sandringham for the royal family's Christmas break - despite the fact partners aren't normally allowed to attend until they have officially married into the family.
One royal expert believes this decision gave a huge insight into the Queen and Harry's relationship. Writing for the Mail on Sunday, Penny Junor said: "But as is often true in families, her relationship with her grandchildren was very much easier than it was with her children. It was certainly true of her relationship with her first-born, Prince Charles, and his sons, William and Harry.
"She had the most enchanting relationship with all of her grandchildren and indeed her great-grandchildren, and was hugely fond of them all, but there was a special place in her heart for William and Harry.
"When Harry became engaged to Meghan Markle in 2017, she abandoned the old protocol about only married being allowed, and invited Meghan to spend Christmas with them all at Sandringham."
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