Meghan Markle Caught Barging Ahead of the Queen—Again: Second Brazen Breach of Royal Protocol Leaves Palace Insiders StunnedIn a moment that has reignited fierce debate over royal etiquette and entitlement, footage from a 2018 official engagement reveals Meghan Markle, then the newly minted Duchess of Sussex, committing a second, unmistakable breach of protocol by striding ahead of Queen Elizabeth II—directly contravening one of the monarchy’s most sacred unwritten rules.
The incident, captured during a walkabout in Chester on June 14, 2018, shortly after Prince Harry’s wedding to the American actress, shows the former Suits star repeatedly overtaking the late monarch in a manner that palace observers and protocol experts have described as both deliberate and indefensible.
Far from an innocent misstep, the event marks the second time Meghan was observed barging ahead of the Queen, exposing a pattern of apparent disregard for the hierarchical customs that have governed the British royal family for centuries.Royal protocol is unequivocal on this point: female members of the royal family, regardless of rank, do not walk in front of the sovereign. The Queen, as the living embodiment of the Crown, is always accorded positional precedence.
Even the Prince of Wales, the heir apparent, maintains a deferential distance behind her during public processions. For a junior member of the family—particularly one who had been married into the institution for less than two months—to surge forward is not merely a faux pas; it is a fundamental inversion of the established order.This was no isolated lapse. Just three weeks earlier, during an engagement in Dublin, Meghan had similarly overtaken Queen Elizabeth while exiting a car and navigating a receiving line, prompting immediate correction from royal aides who physically repositioned the Duchess behind the monarch.
Video evidence from both occasions shows a consistent pattern: Meghan, dressed in striking outfits and moving with evident purpose, repeatedly pulls ahead—only to be subtly reined back into the prescribed formation.Eyewitnesses to the Chester walkabout, including members of the royal press corps, reported palpable discomfort among staff. One senior courtier, speaking anonymously to the Daily Mail, described the scene as “astonishing”: “The Duchess was walking so purposefully that she effectively overtook Her Majesty twice in the space of a few minutes. Staff had to intervene repeatedly to ensure she remained in her proper place. It was not a case of getting lost in the moment; she was striding ahead as if the rules did not apply.”Protocol experts have been unequivocal in their condemnation.
Royal author and historian Hugo Vickers, a leading authority on court ceremonial, has repeatedly cited these incidents as emblematic of a broader failure to internalize the monarchy’s rigid conventions. “There is no ambiguity in the rule,” Vickers explained in a 2019 interview. “The Queen walks first. Full stop. For anyone to place themselves ahead of her is not merely ignorant—it is an active usurpation of her position. Whether by accident or arrogance, such behavior undermines the very structure of deference that sustains the institution.”The Duchess’s defenders have long maintained that these episodes were mere misunderstandings, attributable to her status as an outsider unaccustomed to the arcane rituals of Windsor etiquette.
However, the repetition of the error—twice within weeks, and in full view of cameras—strains the limits of that explanation. Unlike a single, excusable stumble in an unfamiliar environment, the Chester incident occurred after the Dublin breach had already been publicly corrected, suggesting either an inability or an unwillingness to adapt to the fundamental expectations of royal conduct.Further complicating the narrative of innocent error is the context in which these walkabouts took place.
Both events were carefully choreographed public appearances, with detailed itineraries provided to all participants, including the Duchess. Royal tours, particularly those involving the sovereign, are preceded by exhaustive briefings on protocol, leaving little room for genuine confusion. As royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams observed, “By the time of the Chester visit, Meghan had been immersed in royal life for nearly a year. Multiple members of the household—including her private secretary—would have explicitly instructed her on the positional requirements.
To overtake the Queen a second time cannot be dismissed as ignorance; it borders on defiance.”The implications of such behavior extend beyond mere embarrassment. Within the tightly controlled world of the royal family, where hierarchy is not merely observed but performed, visible breaches erode the delicate fabric of authority. Queen Elizabeth II, known for her unerring adherence to protocol, tolerated no such lapses from those closest to her.
The late monarch’s own daughter, Princess Anne, remains a model of unwavering deference, consistently maintaining her place several paces behind her mother during joint engagements—a practice that persisted for seven decades.For Meghan Markle, these incidents foreshadowed a tumultuous tenure within the royal family. Less than two years later, she and Prince Harry would withdraw from senior royal duties, citing irreconcilable differences with the institution. In her subsequent public statements, including the 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview and the 2022 Netflix series Harry & Meghan, the Duchess repeatedly portrayed herself as a victim of an inflexible, opaque system that failed to accommodate her instincts.
Yet the walking-order controversies—captured indelibly on film—offer a stark counterpoint: a pattern of behavior that appeared to reject, rather than seek to master, the very protocols she would later decry.Critics of the Duchess argue that these episodes reveal not victimhood, but a fundamental incompatibility with the self-abnegating discipline required of working royals.
As one former palace insider remarked to Vanity Fair, “You cannot claim to be hemmed in by rules you refuse to follow. Walking ahead of the Queen is not a triviality; it is a rejection of the premise that anyone—however talented or self-assured—must subordinate themselves to the Crown.”The footage from Chester endures as a vivid, unfiltered record of this clash between individual assertiveness and institutional restraint. In a moment broadcast to the world, Meghan Markle stepped physically—and symbolically—ahead of the woman who had reigned supreme for 66 years.
Whether born of ignorance, impatience, or a deliberate assertion of equality, the act remains a striking tableau of discord: a duchess who, twice in quick succession, placed herself where no other royal dares to tread.
As the British monarchy continues to navigate its post-Elizabethan era, the walking-order incidents serve as a reminder of the enduring power of protocol—and the profound consequences of disregarding it. In the meticulously ordered world of the Windsors, there is no room for forging one’s own path: the Queen always walks first.
