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Meghan Markle helped open the 2022 Invictus Games alongside her husband, Prince Harry, while apparently paying a visual homage to his late mother.
Meghan wore a white top with black trousers which visually echoed an outfit worn by the late Diana, Princess of Wales, during the last portrait sitting before her death in 1997.
Famed fashion photographer Mario Testino took the pictures of Diana five months before her death in August 1997. The portraits ran in the July 1997 issue of Vanity Fair alongside a profile with the headline "Diana Reborn." Diana was preparing to auction her royal wardrobe and donate the proceeds to charity.
Royal style watchers pegged Meghan's top as a bodysuit from the indie fashion brand Khaite, which retails for $780. Meghan paired it with black trousers a bracelet from Cartier, a favorite jewelry brand that Diana also frequently wore.
Meghan addressed the crowd at the opening ceremony before welcoming her husband, an Invictus cofounder, to the stage.
"It is my distinguished honour to introduce someone that I think you'll all be very excited to hear from," she said. "He has also spent many late nights and early mornings planning for these games to make them as perfect as possible for each of you.
"I could not love and respect him more and I know that all of you feel the same, because he is your fellow veteran, having served two tours of duty in Afghanistan and 10 years of military service."
When Harry joined Meghan on the stage, the two shared a kiss before he began his own remarks.
A fan pointed out on Twitter that the photo of Diana wearing the look ran with a pull quote reading, "She's free of the restrictions. Certainly you can see that," when Vanity Fair published it in 1997. Friend Rosa Monckton had made the assessment in the profile, which contained comments from Diana's confidantes but no interview with the recently divorced princess herself.
"Meg channels Diana with [the same top] that sends a big message: 'She's free of restrictions'!" the Twitter user added.
But Diana's newfound freedom was to be short-lived. Less than two months after Testino's photos were published, she died aged 36 in a car crash in Paris. Harry and his brother William frequently speak about their mother's empathy and legacy, as well as the toll her premature passing took on their mental health.
Meghan and Harry's sister-in-law, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, is also fond of paying sartorial homage to the late style icon whose dress sense is still revered in the fashion world.
Prior to Meghan and Harry's appearance at the opening ceremony in The Hague, Netherlands, they visited Harry's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, at her residence in Windsor on Thursday, April 14. This was their first joint visit with the monarch since they ended their royal duties in March 2020, although Harry has returned to the U.K. without his wife twice since then.
The couple's visit with the queen came as a surprise to royal experts as the couple is currently embroiled in a legal battle with Her Majesty's Government pertaining to their security status in Harry's home country. It remains unclear whether Harry and Meghan will return once more in early June for celebrations of the queen's Platinum Jubilee.
About the writer
Molly Mulshine is Newsweek's Entertainment Editor based in London, U.K. Her focus is entertainment and pop culture; she has covered ... Read more