Why Meghan Markle Caused Such a Stir by Shutting a Car Door

Why Meghan(mekən) Markle Caused Such a Stir(stər) by Shutting a Car Door

Royals(ˈroiəl) may be the last people on earth who could be praised(prāz) for something so simple.

By Josh(jäSH) Duboff(dəˈbof)

Meghan Markle checked off another “first“ Tuesday evening, as the Duchess(ˈdəCHis) of Sussex(ˈsəsəks) made her first solo outing for an official engagement(inˈɡājmənt, enˈɡājmənt) since becoming a member of the royal family. The appearance(əˈpi(ə)rəns), for the opening of an exhibition(ˌeksəˈbiSHən) at the Royal Academy(əˈkadəmē) of Arts in London, went off quite(kwīt) smoothly(ˈsmo͞oT͟Hlē), with Meghan arriving in a sleek(slēk) black Givenchy(rēˈvənˈchi) gown and taking a private(ˈprīvit) tour(to͝or) of the exhibit(igˈzibit). But a seemingly(ˈsēmiNGlē) quite minor(ˈmīnər) moment has received a surprising(sə(r)ˈprīziNG) amount of attention. You see, Meghan Markle closed her car door herself.

We know. It’s going to take a few minutes for the enormity(iˈnôrmitē) of this to set in. But yes, a 37-year-old closing her own car door has managed to completely upend(ˌəpˈend) royal Twitter. Royals generally have their car doors opened and closed by members of the staff(staf), which is why Meghan doing so herself has caused those on Twitter, per the Daily Mail, to praise(prāz) Meghan as “humble(ˈhəmbəl)” and “down to earth.” Etiquette(-ˌket,ˈetikit) expert(ˈekˌspərt) William(ˈwilyəm) Hanson told the outlet(ˈoutˌlet), “The Duchess of Sussex closing her own car door is yet another silent(ˈsīlənt) signal that she is going to be doing things her own way and helping adapt(əˈdapt) and progress the British monarchy(ˈmänərkē),“ continuing, “Whether she thought long and hard about it before it happened, I doubt(dout) it, I suspect it was force of habit, but it is interesting to see that many have noticed as usually(ˈyo͞oZHo͞oəlē) dignitaries(ˈdiɡnəˌterē) have a member of staff to do this for them.”

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https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/09/meghan-markle-shutting-car-door-twitter-reaction