Meghan’s fashion crime that left Twitter aghast

WHEN the Duchess of Sussex stepped out three days after her nuptials to Prince Harry, the Markle Sparkle had changed and she’d added an item that had people asking if she had been “got” Gilead-style by The Firm. During her visit to Cheshire overnight, the item popped up… again.

The Duchess of Sussex.

It was a mystery that confounded the style world: Just why did Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wear tights on her first appearance post-wedding?

When the new bride stepped out three days after her nuptials to Prince Harry, the Markle Sparkle was substantially dimmed by her denier. Her crime? She wore sheer tights under an underwhelming oat-coloured Goat dress and Philip Treacy hat for the birthday celebrations of her father-in-law Prince Charles.

Queen Elizabeth II stands with Meghan, who wore her beige tights … again.

After wooping all other royal females with her sartorial fashion choices over the previous six months, had Meghan been “got” Gilead-style by The Firm and stuffed into tights now she was officially a Wife?

As social media reeled in horror at the fashion crime, onlookers wanted answers.

Just why would she make such a heinous choice — on a hot day, too? To make matters worse, they weren’t even flesh-toned, but two shades lighter than her legs.

She was following protocol, it was claimed, as reports stated royal women must sport sheer tights and closed-in-shoes — and certainly The Queen and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall appear to adhere to this rule.

There’s no set rules on going barelegged, according to former royal butler Grant Harold.

But is it protocol, or just a personal choice? After all, tights are much easier than badly-applied St Tropez fake tan, or scary hairy legs poking out under your frock.

The answer is no, it’s not an actual rule, according to the man in the know, ex-royal butler Grant Harrold.

“Royal ladies do not tend to go barelegged, but there is no set rule on this,” he says.

Harrold, who worked for Charles and Camilla and now runs an etiquette school, theroyalbutler.co.uk, thinks Meghan won’t stick to the rules anyway. “As the modern lady she is, I am sure she will become a fashion trendsetter as we have seen by the equally beautiful Duchess of Cambridge,” he says.

Catherine, who usually plays it safe, has regularly appeared barelegged, including here on Manly Beach.

And while Twitter got in a hosiery huff over Meghan plunging down the fashion ladder, further proof there’s no rule comes from Catherine, who has regularly appeared barelegged.

Admittedly the Duchess of Cambridge, who likes to play it safe, generally favours a nude pump or wedge heel with tights, but she has been seen feeling the breeze in sandals — not least when she ran across the sand on Manly beach in 2014 in a cream Zimmermann dress and Russell & Bromley sandals.

She often goes barelegged for official events, such as at a cocktail party in Germany last year, when she wore a floral dress by Markus Lupfer with high-heeled Prada sandals and red toenails.

Pantyhose panic over, we can conclude Meghan wasn’t trussed up in tights against her will but, while trying to fit in, made the execrable fashion error all by herself. Case closed.