One of the truer stereotypes about the Royal Family is that they are supposed to look serious and official at all times. Because of this, we don’t usually get to see royals let their hair down and have fun. As usual, the exception in this regard is Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
While these two don’t engage in sloppy makeout sessions (in public, at least), they have become infamous for their public displays of affection. Some of these PDA moments indicate a couple who are a little too into each other…and some hint that this couple’s touchy-feely nature may just be a calculated performance.
Either way, all these PDAs are royally inappropriate. What are the worst examples, and how will they change how you view this controversial royal couple? Keep reading to find out!
The couple’s candid kiss cam
If you don’t believe that Harry and Meghan have a reputation for weirdly public displays of affection, just check out this incident from a basketball game they attended together in 2023. The two were watching the LA Lakers square off against (and ultimately beat) the Memphis Grizzlies, but Harry clearly had his mind on more than hoops, leaning in to try to sneak a kiss from his lovely wife when the arena cameraman decided to focus on the royal celebs.
That was the plan, at least. But Meghan just laughed at his attempt and deliberately turned her head away from his affection. It would have been a brutal moment in any context, but the fact that the whole thing was caught on camera made it that much worse. Not only did we see a royal prince who couldn’t control his passions, but we saw that his wife wasn’t interested in even a chaste kiss from her husband. Ouch!
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Their concert PDA goes sideways
Looking back, 2023 really was the year for awkward PDA moments between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. In addition to the aforementioned NBA game fiasco, there was the time they went to see Beyoncé perform in September. A random TikTok user happened to catch the moment they were getting ready to head to their seats, and that’s when things got awkward.
At first, the two were holding hands, but then they had to show their tickets to security. Meghan did just that, releasing Harry’s hand and turning her back while she tucked her hair behind her ear. This left Harry’s arm very visibly hanging, and he proceeded to scratch his nose and then laugh at the absurdity of the moment.
The laugh felt pretty awkward rather than genuine, and it’s not hard to see why. If the entire world just watched our partner ditch us like Meghan ditched Harry, we might be laughing just as awkwardly!
The lean-in seen around the world
Sometimes, we can only speculate as to why Harry and Meghan’s PDA moment went sideways. For example, when they attended a Global Citizen Live in September 2021, Meghan leaned on Harry for physical support. At least, we guess that’s what she was doing…she looked very awkward while she was doing it, and Harry put on the world’s least convincing grin while she did so.
What was going on here? It’s possible that Meghan was still recovering from recently giving birth to their daughter only three months earlier. Later, though, she spoke very openly about the harassment and abuse she experienced during pregnancy, both from traditional media outlets and users of social media. Whatever the main causes are, it all added up to her and Harry looking completely frazzled in front of the world.
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Holding hands (at the worst possible time)
By now, you’ve probably noticed that most of these awkward PDA stories about Harry and Meghan involved her dissing his attempts to publicly cuddle. On one occasion, though, Meghan rose to the occasion and offered her husband the emotional support he needed. Unfortunately, she chose to do so at the worst possible time.
When the two attended Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, they were already persona non grata because of previous antics, including stepping back from royal responsibilities, moving to America, and spilling dirty royal details to Oprah and, by extension, the world. The rest of the royals seemed to be shunning them during the funeral, and things went from bad to worse when Harry and Meghan were spotted holding hands after leaving the service, leading media outlets and online users to call this public display of affection entirely inappropriate.
A public fight over…holding hands?
As you can tell, it’s not uncommon for people online to get downright combative about Harry and Meghan holding hands in public. But on one occasion, nobody was more combative about this matter than the royal couple. This caused them to engage in something of a hand-holding battle on (ironically enough) Nelson Mandela Day.
It started when Meghan reached over and put her own hand on Harry’s leg. This caused the prince to push her away, prompting Meghan to grab his arm and pull him over until his hand was on her leg. At this point, Harry gritted his teeth, refused to look at his wife, and then freed his hand from her grasp, leaving a disappointed Meghan to settle for stroking his arm.