Meghan Markle being caught in a hail of camera flashes the moment she turned to the press has been described as “insane” by a fan on social media. The Duchess of Sussex was photographed prolifically when she opened the “Oceania” exhibition at the Royal Academy during her first solo royal engagement.

 Meghan had been doing royal duties since the previous December but it was not until September 25, 2018, that she stepped out on behalf of the monarchy without having another royal at her side, usually Prince Harry. A clip of the moment received 4,000 likes and viewed 30,000 times after it was posted on TikTok with the on-screen caption “aura” and the message “insane.”

One fan replied: “literally love her” while another said Meghan was “gorgeous.” A third wrote: “The flashes when she turned around omg.” A fourth wrote: “SHE IS DEFINITELY THE MOST PRETTY WOMAN.” The moment also came at a pivotal time for Meghan, who was hugely popular with the public but secretly grappling with a disintegration in royal relations behind the scenes.

There had been tension with Princess Kate before Meghan’s wedding to Prince Harry. Thomas Markle, her father, had begun making hostile comments on British TV and by August she told the Kensington Palace communications secretary, Jason Knauf, the royals were constantly berating Harry to get the interviews to stop. 

And the working culture in the private office they shared with Prince William and Kate had also become “poisoned,” according to Harry’s book Spare. However, none of this was publicly known at the time and the visit to the Royal Academy was preparation for what in October 2018 would be a successful tour of Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, hence the Oceania theme.

The exhibition was the first-ever survey of Oceanic art in Britain and Meghan got a round of positive publicity off the back of her role in opening it. By November and December that year, however, the toxicity bubbling behind the scenes would burst out into the open with a wave of hostile stories attributed to anonymous sources.

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