Why Meghan Markle ‘Won’ A 2017 Bad Manners Award: Prince Harry’s Future Wife Shamed Over Bare Body Parts
Meghan Markle might currently be one of the most popular young women on both sides of the pond, but one royal watcher isn’t a fan of what Prince Harry’s future bride does with her legs. According to this critic, she needs to keep her athletic limbs covered up and take slower steps when she’s out with her fiance.
On Friday, etiquette expert William Hanson revealed which celebrities’ behavior failed to live up to his high standards of decorum in 2017. American actress Meghan Markle topped his annual list of Bad Manners Award recipients for making two minor mistakes after Clarence House announced her engagement to Prince Harry on November 27.
One of them occurred during the royal couple’s first public appearance in Nottingham, where Markle showed plenty of love to the adoring crowd that turned out to see her in person. However, Hanson thinks she overstepped the bounds of appropriate royal behavior by stepping in front of her future husband; he slammed her for failing to learn “something as basic as knowing her place in relation to blood royalty.”
“As good news for the British royal family as Meghan is, she should have known better in November than to walk AHEAD of her fiancé, Prince Harry, when they visited the city of Nottingham,” wrote Hanson on the Daily Mail.
Over in the United States, it’s unlikely that many people would bat an eye at Meghan standing in front her man. In fact, as reported by the Huffington Post, President Donald Trump has actually been criticized for walking ahead of First Lady Melania Trump.
William Hanson also blasted Meghan Markle for daring to bare her legs in her engagement photos instead of wearing pantyhose. He called her visible skin a “brazen display” of naked flesh.
“And on the day of their engagement the American actress shunned the unwritten royal rule that decrees that women wear hosiery. Had the engagement come at the height of summer this judging committee may have been more lenient, but tights or stockings should have been worn, especially when poncing around a pond, in winter.”
The Cut also noticed Meghan Markle’s daring fashion decision, pointing out that her soon-to-be sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, wears glossy hosiery so often that she actually managed to make pantyhose popular again when she joined the royal family. Sales of nude pantyhose reportedly soared at clothing stores all across the UK after the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William tied the knot in 2011.
Perhaps Meghan Markle is more comfortable showing bare skin because it’s something her career required. As reported by the Mirror, she filmed a few steamy sex scenes while playing Rachel Zane on the USA Network series Suits. In one such scene, she laid in bed with her left side uncovered up to her lower abdomen.
Like most actresses, Meghan Markle also shunned pantyhose and tights on the red carpet. She would often show off her toned legs in mini-dresses, but her hemlines became longer as her relationship with Prince Harry progressed. As reported by Footwear News, she’ll likely adhere to Queen Elizabeth’s “no knees” dress code from now on.
Royal watchers will just have to wait and see whether being named a 2017 Bad Manners Award winner causes Meghan Markle to make another sartorial change by starting to cover up her legs with sheer pantyhose like Kate Middleton does.
