The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived back in Sydney, Australia on Friday, where they pretty much got off the plane and headed straight for the Australian Geographic Society Awards. I hope after the awards ceremony, Meghan and Harry headed back to the hotel for a good night’s rest. They were back on duty Saturday, where they attended the gold-medal match in wheelchair basketball between Team USA and Team Netherlands. The Americans won, and apparently Meghan was really jazzed about that. Team England actually took the bronze medal by defeating Team New Zealand. David Beckham and several Aussie politicians were also at the game.
For this appearance, Meghan wore a pair of skinny black slacks, designer ID unknown, and a garnet-colored jacket from Scanlan Theodore. The color is gorgeous on her, and I don’t even mind the peplum/ruffle. She also wore a paper poppy, as part of the Royal British Legion’s poppy drive. I really like that she’s been mixing up her hair styles too – while I haven’t liked every single hair look, I appreciate that she’s giving us different looks. Her hair half-way back looks very professional and pretty.
Meghan and Harry got to hand out medals to all of the competitors, and it actually filled me with a sense of pride and patriotism to see how Meghan was so happy for the Team USA competitors, and how pleased they were to see her too. But it was a Dutch competitor who decided to shoot his shot: as Meghan leaned in to shake his hand, he pulled her closer and got a kiss from her. It was just a kiss on the cheek! But he celebrated and she laughed. You can see the footage here:
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will attend the closing of the Invictus Games tonight. They presented medals at the wheelchair basketball, before one cheeky competitor broke Royal protocol to steal a kiss. @ChrisReason7 #RoyalAustraliaTour #IG2018 #7News pic.twitter.com/jtCwHhuugX
— 7 News Brisbane (@7NewsBrisbane) October 27, 2018
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
Must be crazy to try and pack clothes for a three week work trip not knowing what size you may become
I’m going to NY for a 4 day weekend and I KNOW I’m going to overpack! I have no idea of what I’ll want to/feel like/will be able to fit into after a few good meals there! 😂😂. Lol
Meg looks gorgeous in the color, and with her hair like that. Guess she got the memo on the bronzer 😉😊
Meg is gorgeous. Love her.
Yes, she really does look beautiful here.
Yes. And that she looks wonderful in that color.
She’s so pretty and she’s giving me Letizia vibes here-which is a great thing! I think Queen Letizia can do no sartorial wrong.
Queen Letizia is gorgeous and I’ve been thinking, for the last several months, that Meghan should look to her as a style mentor.
She’s gorgeous and looks so happy.
Love this color on her. And the baby is giving her curves! She suddenly has curvy hips!
Wow, didn’t know she was that curvy! She looks good. Love the hair
You mean jeggings?
I don’t think they’re jeggings, they’re not stretchy denim. They’re just skinny-cut pants.
Isn’t it Outland Denim, a small sustanable or “charitable” brand? Shes opted for many such choices. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/royals/meghan-effect-duchess-sussex-proves-style-influence-simple-pair/
Colour is gorgeous.
Rest is a bit of a mess.
I didn’t realize how high her waist is! (Does that make sense?)
Well your waist gets bumped up when your lower abdomen bloats from uterine growth and progesterone.
Fair but now looking back, it seems she’s always had a high waist, she just seemed to choose things that hid it for some reason.
She was always more of a “rectangular “ shape: no defined waist at all, thin arms, legs…. she could “hide it” in sheath dresses, but you could tell better in skirts and tops. While she looked amazing on Suits, in the pencil skirts and oversized tops, this disguised the fact that she was so straight midsection.
No pulling a woman in for a kiss if she didn’t plan or intend it, no matter who you are or whatever your status. No. Not cheeky. Grown man, athlete, not a naughty child.
Some might consider it sexual harassment, or assault
I was surprised how much this video pissed me off. He genuinely grabs her, she resists, and he continues to forcefully pull her close to him. WFT?
I thought it was awful, too. She should have a bodyguard to step in and stop this kind of thing.
I agree about the body guard. I wonder if her proximity to men in these situations will change. In my opinion it was not necessary for her to have shook their hands.
Yeah I didn’t care for that at all.
Yes, it looked aggressive to me, almost violent. I don’t think it was cute or funny or charming. And it’s demeaning to all disabled people to NOT take the transgressions of one disabled person seriously because of their disability. Meghan looked shocked when he grabbed her arm and jerked her forward, and then she quickly tried to cover it with a smile. It was kind of awful to watch, honestly.
Totally agree, and it looked aggressive to me too.
She handled it well, but it should NOT have happened.
Harry or some security should be with her when she interacts with sportsmen, cos this is a scenario a lot of women go through with over “friendly” and aggressive men, another male’s presence could have helped avoid or defuse this situation.
She’s a strong smart woman, and handled this with grace & class.
Agree. That was upsetting.
Agreed. Just plain wrong.
Oh dear! I didn’t realise this, I thought that he asked for a kiss and she consented. I didn’t realise that he pulled her in and she had no choice. I can imagine being a basketball his arms must be very powerful, and once she shook his hand it must have turned into a vice like grip. Poor woman.
Yes, that was not cool. I hate it when guys do that kind of thing. Had it happen to me and it’s so upsetting.
I am sorry that you had to face this situation. 🙁
No pulling a man or woman for a kiss that was not intended or consented.
Not cheeky…breaking “royal protocol.” It is breaking protocol…period.
It looked to me like she stumbled when he pulled her.
Not to mention that she is also in fact pregnant.
Who is he to PULL her towards him. Totally inappropriate, not just for Meghan, but for any woman.
I agree with you; it isn’t amusing, it’s obnoxious. No one should be pulling at ANY woman, but especially one who’s pregnant and could be knocked off balance. Really, if even a princess can be pawed at in public, what hope do the rest of us have, particularly if it’s glossed over as “cheeky” fun??
You know, I’m REALLY curious to see her “end of year” events totals. This tour is massive including TONS of events, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Sussexes eclipse the Cambridges in total events for 2018. I feel like if they keep up this pace they’ll be up with the Queen and Charles in work numbers.
Actually William has done more engagements than Harry this year. This tour has allowed Harry to play catch up but he will still be behind William considerably after the tour is over. Kate up until the point that she went on maternity leave had actually done more engagements than Harry. Obviously she won’t match their numbers this year having been off on maternity leave for 6 months.
We’ll see.
I think, and correct me if I’m wrong, they don’t start counting her events until after she was married. Then of course the royal family takes a summer vacation, so don’t expect her totals to be high or shocking. Her counts start five to six months after everyone else, after all. Harry’s low count will be commented on, especially as talk about streamlining the monarchy gains steam as Charles gets closer to the throne.
Something weird happened so I am adding separately that the athlete had to use a little force to make her briefly “his.” Harry didn’t bring her as an offering, so men could play “let’s kiss the pretty girl.” But that’s how it’s going to be in all the media. And on it goes.
I agree with you.
It appeared to me that the tug by the athlete caused her to stumble. She offered a handshake, and he took inappropriate liberties to kiss her.
The media guy says, “…breaking royal protocol.” That’s breaking the protocol called consent. One’s designation or status doesn’t matter – no one should be subject to unwarranted and unwanted behaviors.
That kiss made me uncomfortable. If you have to “drag” a person into an embrace/kiss, just don’t.
Yes, the kiss made me uncomfortable too.
Also, if this had been a Kate post, those would have been called jeggings.
The difference between jeggings and skinny jeans is that skinny jeans are NOT tight around the ankles whereas jeggings are, at least that’s how I understand it. It seems Meghan is wearing skinny jeans not jeggings.
That description sounds like straight leg pants. I have a ton of skinny jeans and pants (not jeggings) and they all are tight at the ankle.
I was really uncomfortable with the kiss as well. Dude must have impulse control problems or never received sexual harassment training while in uniform. If Harry or her security team had been closer, I doubt he would have tried it. BTW, if I’m not mistaken, jeggings are like faux denim made from knit material, like leggings. Meg’s may have some stretch, but they’re not legging-tight.
She looks very cute.
Very pretty top.
And no the kiss was not cheeky , she is there as a part of her ‘job’ and he pulled her… uncomfortable
I wonder if her security will begin staying a little closer after this kiss. I believe if they had been the athlete wouldn’t have tried that kiss. But, this tour has been incredible for H &M. They have kept up a jam-packed schedule and the crowds have loved them. This garnet top looked gorgeous on her, loved her hair, and I love her ease and enthusiasm with the crowds. She looks so beautiful! Also, they make a fabulous team.
Is anyone else bothered by the fact that Meghan so often uses a pin to hold closed the openings of her v-necked dresses and tops? Three of the last three outfits had a visible pin to hold them closed. I find this tacky for such expensive clothes; if you need to pin your clothes together, they don’t fit right in the first place. This tour has made me think Meghan really needs, beyond a dresser/stylist, to have her clothes custom made. With a thick torso (even before pregnancy) and super thin limbs, despite what she may think, she just doesn’t have the typical body shape to fit standard sizes, and hence the bodices are almost always ill fitting.
LOVE her hair in a tight ponytail! She’s so beautiful that this works so well for her, and it keeps her hands out of her hair and face.
She’s only pinned the necklines on this tour. I think it’s because (obviously) she ‘fits’ the dress at one size, but even with seam allowance, by the time she puts it on, she’s grown out of it a schooch. She still looks great. My sister went from small, perfect small C cups (with boobs that couldn’t hold a pencil underneath) to DDDs within 4 mos. of getting pregnant. She couldn’t keep up!
Agreed, Jan. There’s no way of telling how your body will change during pregnancy, especially during these early months. They’re making do with what they have and I’m not criticizing the fit of any of her clothes, nor the methods to keep everything together. I was fortunate enough to not be growing any of my tiny human beings in the public eyes.
I am a fan of the tidy hair too. Sophie has a great professional do.
I’m cutting her some slack, she’s on a trip and in that stage where she’s starting to show and certain clothes fit better than others. But, again, I really hope when she’s back home she can find better styling and tailoring. Pregnant or not she needs to have her clothes fit, it’s not like she doesn’t have the resources.
Yes, I noticed the pins, another reason why she needs a wardrobe mistress. But it also endears her to the rest go us ordinary folk who go around looking like that with pins to cover up our modesty.
Yes, I noticed the pins, and also that when she bent over the wheelchair-seated participants, they might have gotten a view. The pins were not well done, there is a way to pin from the inside where it is not punctured though the front layer of fabric and so visible. A camisole would have been a better choice, and a stretchy one would fit even if she expands a little day by day.
The guy grabbing her was totally out of line. I wish she had scowled and not smiled, making it appear that it was ok with her. I’m sure it wasn’t.
I thought the kiss was disrespectful but Meghan handled it well. If she hauled off and slapped him or gave him a mean look that would have dominated the headlines no matter the explanation or her feelings.
Yes I guess you are correct. But still, there is that conundrum we have to make smiley for the men.
That’s just it, though. Women are put in a situation in which ‘handling it well’ means going along. That man potentially exploited his disability status to be “excused.” If he were standing would we interpret it differently?
Old men use the “but it gives him pleasure” excuse to enable the same behavior. They are not entitled to kisses!
Exactly!
Yes!
Exactly! and i would also add that “handling it well” is something most women are forced to learn very early on in their lives often as a defence mechanism. Just because she “handled it well” and laughed or smiled doesn’t mean she wasn’t uncomfortable by it. I think a lot of us can recall being forced into an unwanred hug or kiss and reacting the exact same way, and later on, once the shock or surprise fades way, had a moment to process our actual thoughts and feelings about it. It literally just happened to me not two weeks ago with a boss I really disliked, and I also “handled it well.”
Am so sad that she’s picked such a blah top from scanlan – they do such beautiful clothes. A fashionista she is not.
Totally gross that the guy went in for a kiss. Poor girl.
This reminds me on the time some woman put her hands on Tim McGraw and Faith Hill had NONE of it. I wonder if Harry had seen it would he have had some thoughts to share. Not that she needs her man to step in forward but you’re right as a woman and actress the way we’re conditioned to handle things is to allow it and make it comfortable for the assaulter. God forbid we show any autonomy.
Or maybe she didn’t have a problem with it and thinks it was fine. The guy was in a wheelchair; it’s not like he grabbed her and man handled her. She could have easily pulled away – she appears to kind of turn her head in a way to allow the peck on the cheek. It’s not something I think needs to be dissected ad nauseam.
@Patty
But if you watch the video you do see she pulls away kinda twice, but he’s grabbing her and pulling so hard she stumbles. There was also some yellow thing below and between them she could have easily fallen over because of what he did.
Also she shook everyone else’s hand no more, he knew what to expect, if a woman extends her hand for a shake don’t try a hug or a kiss, just don’t. He took advantage of an opportunity where anything other than a polite reaction from Meghan would have been a major talking point, perhaps even made her look bad (people love to criticize her and twist things) and used that to force her into a physical interaction that she did not offer.
I think Patty prefers being contrarian and belittling those who don’t think the way s/he does. On another thread it was people fawning over Meghan too much.
While some of the comments above are way, way overblown (this is a Meghan thread after all), It wasn’t a nothing. It was clearly inappropriate, especially since he grabbed her arm and caused her to stumble
FYI you don’t need to have that much disability to play wheelchair basketball, 5 knee reconstructions will get you there at the paralympic level, which means you can walk and run and do basically the same as everyone else. His upper body strength was probably fine.
I’ve presented medals and had the same thing happen to me though a whole line of men. The first guy tried it then that emboldened the rest. It wasn’t traumatic but it was certainly gross, I was trying to be a good representative and they took advantage of that.
Really? We’re doing poppies already?
Yes, we are, here in the UK.
This is WAY better than some of the earlier dress pants she has worn pre-wedding. The pop of colour is beautiful & cut actually flatters her frame, the hair is also great , very much a win for me!
I really hate high heeled pumps with skinny jeans. How about high heeled ankle boots? Love the color of the top but it’s too short.
Love the colour of this top, but I hate the style of it.
Meghan looks gorgeous in that color!
She is glowing! Pregnancy definitely agrees with her. She looks gorgeous in the last pic.