Meghan Markle's Trooping the Colour joke 'met with silence' in very awkward moment

Trooping the Colour is one of the most significant events in the royal calendar—full of pomp, pageantry, and centuries-old tradition. The historic spectacle never fails to get the world talking.

This year, two former key figures of the Windsor household will be notably absent from the Buckingham Palace balcony. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle will not be taking part in the King’s official birthday celebrations today (June 14). However, back in 2018, the couple attended the event together and witnessed the iconic RAF flypast—though the day wasn’t without its awkward moments.

The Duchess of Sussex made her balcony debut just weeks after marrying Prince Harry, 40, at Windsor Castle in a star-studded ceremony. But behind the scenes, tensions simmered. In his bestselling memoir Spare, Harry revealed that Meghan was met with a deafening silence from Princess Kate after she tried to lighten the mood with a joke as they stepped off the balcony.

Harry alleged that the royals once headed back inside Buckingham Palace; Meghan attempted to make a joke with her sister-in-law, who was once close to the Duke, but it never landed.

He claimed that instead of her bursting out laughing, noise fell to a "yawning silence.”

Meghan was spotted chatting with Kate, Prince William, and Queen Camilla, with Harry suggesting the atmosphere was tense and uncomfortable for Meghan.

The Duke of Sussex wrote in his book Spare that when they exited the balcony, Kate asked Meghan what she thought of her first Trooping the Colour, and she replied, "Colourful".

He claimed that his wife’s answer was jovial and a light-hearted joke. But it didn't get the welcoming reaction and funny reaction she was hoping for.

Harry suggested it was quite the opposite, writing, "A yawning silence threatened to swallow us all whole."

Prince Harry used his book to share his version of the fallouts and tensions between Meghan, which led to their decision to step down as working royals just two years later.

He opened up about difficulties in the build-up to their wedding, which likely contributed to the awkwardness between the women at Trooping the Colour that year.

Harry also accused Kate and Prince William, 43, of "stereotyping" his wife, suggesting that it caused a fraught barrier between them all.