Prince Harry, Duke Of Sussex Details 2019 Colorful Trooping Exchange
Prince Harry, Duke Of Sussex wrote that Meghan Markle’s one-word answer to Kate Middleton at Trooping the Colour in 2019 was followed by an awkward silence. The exchange came during the couple’s first public appearance as newlyweds after their 10-day honeymoon trip. Harry said in Spare that the moment left the room quiet enough to “swallow us all whole.”
Spare And Trooping The Colour
Harry’s account places the exchange at Trooping the Colour, the military parade held for the British sovereign’s birthday. He wrote that Kate Middleton asked Meghan what she thought of the celebration, and Markle replied, “Colorful.”
In the memoir, Harry described what followed in a single line: “And a yawning silence threatened to swallow us all whole.” The wording matters because it is his account of how the moment landed in the room, not a later retelling from another source.
Meghan Markle And The Queen
Harry said Meghan went on a royal trip with the Queen a few days later and was nervous at the start. He wrote that Meghan and the Queen got along really well, bonded over their love for dogs, and also spoke about motherhood. Meghan later told Harry about those conversations.
The same month, Harry said both royal couples tried to ease tensions between them. That sits alongside the broader pattern in the source material: Harry and Meghan moved to California in 2020 and have not returned to the UK since then because of security concerns.
2025 Royal Invitation
The anecdote has resurfaced as reports said last year that the couple would not attend the event amid ongoing tensions with the royal family. In 2025, Markle and Prince Harry were not invited for the third year in a row, keeping Trooping the Colour tied to the same family fracture Harry described in Spare.
For readers following the royal divide, the practical takeaway is simple: the memoir account is now part of the public record around why this event keeps drawing attention, and the 2025 invitation status shows that the gap around Trooping the Colour has not closed.
