00:00June 2018. The eyes of the world are on the royal family.
00:04It's Meghan Markle's very first Trooping the Color.
00:07Everyone is smiling for the cameras, but behind the scenes, a single,
00:12one-word joke is about to create a silence so awkward,
00:15Prince Harry said it, threatened to swallow them whole.
00:18Fresh off their Mediterranean honeymoon, Harry and Meghan join the family
00:23to celebrate the Queen's birthday.
00:25According to Harry's memoir, Spare, the mood was upbeat.
00:28That is, until Kate turned to Meghan and asked what she thought of her very first official royal
00:34parade. Meghan's response? Just one word, colorful. According to Harry, a yawning, painful silence
00:42immediately fell over the group. But it wasn't just a bad joke. This moment exposed a massive,
00:49underlying rift. Days later, the four royals met up to clear the air and the royal grievances came
00:55pouring out. Kate was upset over friction regarding bridesmaid dresses and a comment Meghan made about
01:02her pregnancy hormones. On top of that, William and Kate were reportedly miffed that Harry and
01:08Meghan hadn't given them Easter presents. The Sussexes had their own complaints, irritated that
01:14William and Kate had randomly switched seats at their wedding. As Harry later wrote,
01:19none of this airing of grievances was doing any good. We weren't getting anywhere. By 2019,
01:26they celebrated their last Trooping the Color together, before Harry and Meghan officially
01:31stepped back from royal duties in 2020. Flash forward to the latest Trooping the Color.
01:37As King Charles, Kate and William gather on the balcony in London, Harry and Meghan remain
01:43thousands of miles away at their home in California, uninvited. While the royal parade marched on,
01:50Harry made a remote video appearance for his Invictus Games in Germany,
01:54worlds away from the royal life that a single, awkward moment helped break apart.
