Meghan Markle accidentally broke Royal protocol in front of the Queen

(Image credit: Rex)

Since officially becoming a Royal, there are so many rules that Meghan has to follow, from knowing who to curtsy to, to what not to eat when travelling, that it's hardly shocking that the Duchess accidentally breaks protocol once in a while (she's still taking princess lessons after all).

One such slip-up happened during Tuesday's Buckingham Palace party, when she sat down with the Queen and Prince Harry.

As any one of us might do, she immediately crossed her legs as she took her position on the chair. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a no no for Royal women, as according to Royal etiquette, it shows a lack of posture.

Instead, one should adopt the 'Duchess stance', where you cross your legs at the ankle, or keep your legs together and dip them to the side a little, thus maintaining the perfect poise.

As you can see in the below video captured by People's Simon Perry, Meghan quickly recovered, uncrossing her legs immediately.

A photo posted by on

This position is always adopted by Royal women, especially when they have to sit down for a long period of time and want to maintain composure.

Royal etiquette expert Myka Meier told the publication, 'It is the perfect pose for when a camera is shooting directly in front of you because by slightly slanting the knees to create a zig-zag effect when wearing a dress or skirt, your legs are angled so that the camera only shoots the sides of your legs and protects your modesty.'

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.