Are Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton Really Breaking Protocol When They Wear Dark Nail Polish?
Of everything she did at the British Fashion Awards Monday night-make a charismatic speech about fashion where she called the UK her "new home," cradle her baby bump very visibly in photos, wear a black one-shouldered dress by Givenchy to honor her wedding dress designer, Givenchy's designer Clare Waight Keller-Meghan Markle has made the most headlines for one tiny detail: the nail polish color she chose. Some were quick to speculate that Meghan broke protocol by wearing dark nail polish; Harper's Bazaar pointed out yesterday that Kate has worn dark nail polish too in the past, back in 2012 when she went to a dinner for The Thirty Club. Meghan is not alone in her love of dark nail polish, and wearing it doesn't even break royal protocol at all.
While royal etiquette expert Myka Meier, Beaumont Etiquette's founder/director and a British-American trained by a former member of the Queen's household, told ELLE.com earlier this year that Meghan had changed her nails generally to wear "that light, neutral pink that is favored in the palaces and [with] other royals. We see her with that now, nice, short, square nails," she also noted that Meghan would not go out in anything protocol-breaking; she wouldn't have the option to. And "favored," additionally, doesn't mean mandated.
The Palace works with Meghan to plan her outfits for events and "would not have given her the option to do something disrespectful," Meier said. "She has an entire team of aides that call [in] pieces...they would have pulled appropriate pieces. The palace is very involved in what she wears and her presentation. And of course she has the final say, but there wouldn’t have been any of her breaking rules."
Royal reporter Omid Scobie additionally put the dark nail polish drama to rest on Harper's Bazaar. “There’s no actual protocol about dark nail polish,” he told the outlet. “It’s simply about being appropriate-we’d never see this at a royal engagement. [The British Fashion Awards ceremony] is a celebration of fashion and there’s a lot more flexibility on what one can wear.”
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