The Prince and Princess of Wales' fairytale wedding day in 2011 was one of the most memorable royal weddings in history, with more than two billion people worldwide tuning in to watch Prince William tie the knot with his teenage sweetheart.
As royal watchers delighted in the celebrations following the big day, Meghan Markle, who hadn't yet met her future husband, Prince Harry, shared some polarising thoughts on her now-defunct lifestyle blog, The Tig about the royal wedding.
The Duchess of Sussex penned a blog post on "the endless conversation about Princess Kate" following her royal wedding to Prince William.
"Little girls dream of being princesses. I, for one, was all about She-Ra, Princess of Power," Meghan wrote following her interview with Princess Alia Al-Senussi, a member of Libyan royalty.
"For those of you unfamiliar with the ‘80s cartoon reference, She-Ra is the twin sister of He-Man, and a sword-wielding royal rebel known for her strength. We’re definitely not talking about Cinderella here.
"Grown women seem to retain this childhood fantasy. Just look at the pomp and circumstance surrounding the royal wedding and endless conversation about Princess Kate," she wrote of her future sister-in-law.
Given her former views, Meghan clearly could never have imagined she too would one day be taking part in the "pomp and circumstance" as she wed Prince Harry just seven years later.
In her explosive tell-all interview with chat show host Oprah, Meghan admitted she went into the royal family "naively" and didn't do any online research when dating Harry back in 2016. The pair went on to marry at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle on 19 May 2018.
In the sit-down interview, which aired on CBS on Sunday 7 March 2022, the Duchess explained: "I didn’t grow up knowing much about the royal family. It wasn’t something that was part of conversation at home. It wasn’t something that we followed."
She continued: "I didn’t fully understand what the job was."So much so, in fact, that Meghan admitted that she had to swiftly perfect the art of curtsying before she met Queen Elizabeth II for the first time at the Royal Lodge in Windsor.
In the second episode of the couple's Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, the former actress recalls meeting the late monarch for the first time, and not understanding why she was required to curtsey when greeting her.
Harry recalled: "My grandmother was the first senior member of the family that Meghan met. She had no idea what it all consisted of. It was a bit of a shock to the system for her."
Meghan replied: "I didn’t know I was going to meet her until moments before. We were in the car and we were going to Royal Lodge for lunch. And he was like, 'Oh, my grandmother is here. She’s going to be there after church.' I remember we were in the car, driving, and he’s like, ‘You know how to curtsy, right?’ And I just thought it was a joke."