Diana’s chef, others, rip Meghan for ‘mocking’ queen with exaggerated curtsy, say she’s ‘not close’ to being like Diana

Diana’s former chef has joined the chorus of many in the U.K. and on social media who are particularly incensed at a moment in Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Netflix docuseries, when Meghan performs an exaggerated curtsy to show what was expected of her during her first meeting with the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Darren McGrady, who cooked for Diana, William and Harry and the late queen for 15 years, is among many who expressed “horror ” and “disgust” at “the disrespect” they believe that Meghan showed for the queen with her curtsy demonstration.

This America, is why we don’t like her.

So disrespectful. pic.twitter.com/3znxhJmrD1

— Sophie Corcoran (@sophielouisecc) December 8, 2022

In an interview with the Daily Mail, McGrady argued that Harry wasn’t happy either with the way his wife seemed to ridicule his grandmother.

“The look on his face when his wife laughs about having to curtsy to the queen says everything for me,” McGrady told the Daily Mail. But like others, he also criticized Harry for sitting by and not preventing his wife from performing the bow.

If someone mocked my grandmother the way Markle arrogantly ridiculed having to curtsy to the Queen, I wouldn’t sit there and say nothing. Harry is a pathetic worm, he should be ashamed of himself. #MeghanMarkIeisaLiar #MeghanandHarryNetflix pic.twitter.com/ZMIbhSYR9G

— Pamela Houston (@pammy77) December 8, 2022

McGrady additionally hit back at Harry’s belief — which he went to great lengths to emphasize in the series — that his American wife is like his beloved mother, who died in 1997.

“I’ve known Harry since I held him as a baby while Princess Diana was eating cereals in the kitchen at Windsor Castle,” McGrady said. “Prince Harry, with respect sir, your wife will never be like or similar to your mother. I knew Princess Diana for 15 years. Not even close.”

British politicians and pundits have also expressed anger at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for that moment in the six-part docuseries, “Harry and Meghan,” which began airing Thursday. The moment comes when Harry, seated with Meghan, recounted a conversation he had with her before he first introduced her to the queen, explaining that she would have to curtsy.

“How do you explain that you bow to your grandmother? And that you will need to curtsy? Especially to an American… that’s weird,” he said.

Meghan said it was “surreal” and that she thought he was joking when he asked if she knew how to curtsy, then giggled as she performed her exaggerated curtsy for the camera.

“I was like, ‘Pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty.’ Like, was that OK? It was so intense,” Meghan said. “I didn’t know what I was doing!”

That’s when Harry shot her a look that suggested he was not sharing the joke, The Telegraph and others have reported.

This is the moment that Meghan describes meeting the late Queen Elizabeth for the first time and how she did not understand why she needed to curtsy to Harry‘s grandmother…
He looks a little uncomfortable about the whole thing#HarryandMeghan pic.twitter.com/H9qr7DqwHq

— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) December 8, 2022

Royal author Gyles Brandreth agreed that Meghan’s curtsy demonstration was “mocking” and “embarrassing,” The Telegraph reported. He said on ITV: “Nobody curtseys to the queen like that, and nobody would have advised her to do it that way.”

Brandreth also said that Harry would know the importance of the bow — just a brief nod and a curtsy — and how it’s a way to show respect for the sovereign, “a lady in her 90s who actually had earned respect through a lifetime of service.”

British columnist Sarah Vine and others also accused Meghan of ridiculing British culture, which she suggested was problematic because she and Harry are using the docuseries to argue their point that the biracial former TV actor was the victim racism in the British monarchy and in the U.K. media.

Why is it ok for Meghan to mock our culture in this way? Or does racism only work one way? #HarryandMeghanNetflix pic.twitter.com/IAbqzHG5N0

— Sarah Vine (@WestminsterWAG) December 8, 2022

The anger coming from Britain over the series has extended to the political realm. Bob Seely, a Conservative MP, has said he is planning to introduce proposed legislation to strip the Duke and Duchess of Sussex of their royal titles, The Guardian reported.

Seely said that the Netflix series has become “a political issue” because of the way the couple are depicting the monarchy as archaic and steeped in racism and colonialism, according to The Guardian. “As well as trashing his family and monetizing his misery for public consumption, he is also attacking some important institutions in this country,” Seely said about Harry.

Under Seely’s proposal, MPs would vote on a resolution that could give the Privy Council, a formal advisory board, the power to downgrade Harry and Meghan’s royal status. Seely also asked why Harry and his wife continue to use their titles “while at the same time (trashing) the institution of monarchy and his family.”