This entire time, I thought the Duchess of Sussex wore so many neutral colors because that was just her style. Especially when she was living in the UK (pre-2020), Meghan stuck to a mostly-neutral color palette of beiges, chocolates, black and creams. Since she moved back to America, granted, we’ve seen her wear some colorful stuff, but I would argue that she still wears a lot of neutral colors because that really is her baseline style/taste. In Netflix’s Harry & Meghan, she explained why she limited her fashion choices while in the UK:
Meghan Markle is sharing insight into the strategic style choices she made as a senior working royal. In episode three of Harry & Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, 41, spoke about her discreet sense of style while living in the U.K. Meghan became a senior working royal after marrying Prince Harry in 2018, and said she didn’t want to stand out when photographed with the rest of the royal family.
“Most of the time that I was in the U.K., I rarely wore color. There was thought in that,” she said in a sit-down with Netflix cameras, wearing a lavender sweater and silk skirt.
“To my understanding, you could never wear the same color as Her Majesty [Queen Elizabeth] if there’s a group event, but then you also shouldn’t be wearing the same color as one of the other more senior members of the family,” she added, alluding to Kate Middleton and Queen Camilla.
“So I was like, ‘Well, what’s a color that they’ll probably never wear?’ Camel, beige, white,” she continued, as photos flashed of her in a tan wrap coat during her first Sandringham Christmas. “So I wore a lot of muted tones, but it was also so I could just blend in. I’m not trying to stand out here. There was no version of me joining this family and me not doing everything I could to fit in. I don’t want to embarrass the family.”
It’s one of those “is it really a rule or protocol” things. I think it’s more of an informal rule that women should try to avoid wearing the same color as the queen, but it would involve a stupid amount of coordination for all royal women to avoid wearing the same colors constantly. Anyway, that was one of the reasons why we knew Meghan was done with Salt Island during the You Coulda Had a Bad Bitch Tour in March 2020 – she wore beautiful jewel tones! Meg was DONE!
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and WENN.
