Meghan Markle Meeting Beyoncé Goes Viral

Meghan Markle meeting Beyoncé for the first time at a premiere of The Lion King has gone newly viral on TikTok.

The Duchess of Sussex met the Cowboy Carter singer in July 2019 during what would prove to be a controversial appearance at a premiere for the movie.

Meghan and Beyoncé shared a long hug and chatted briefly alongside Jay-Z months after the music industry power couple had filmed a Brit Awards acceptance speech with a portrait of the royal in the background behind them.

The moment went viral after it was shared on TikTok this week with the on-screen caption: "When Meghan and Beyoncé met for the first time."

The clip was liked more than 8,000 times and viewed close to 150,000 times, while one reply read: "Beyoncé genuinely likes Meghan."

Another fan said "they are both in awe of each other," while a third response read: "It's Jay Z's respectful, awkward hug for me."

Harry and Meghan's attendance at the premiere came just a few months before the Sussexes left Britain for Canada in November 2019 and subsequently quit as working royals in January 2020.

After their exit from the palace, royal fans looked back at video clips and found footage of Harry appearing to pitch Meghan as a voice-over actor to Disney chief executive Bob Iger at the very moment his wife was meeting Beyoncé. She went on to narrate the 2020 Disney+ nature documentary Elephant.

"You do know she does voiceovers?" Harry told Iger and the executive replied: "Ah, I did not know that."

Harry said: "You seem surprised, she's really interested."

Iger said: "We'd love to try. That's a great idea."

Much was made out of the exchange at the time as some argued it was evidence Harry and Meghan had already been planning their exit from royal life as far back as summer 2019.

Hello! magazine reported Meghan recorded the voiceover in autumn 2019 having been approached by the filmmakers Mark and Vanessa Berlowitz that summer.

There was another controversy later, however, when Meghan said during a magazine interview that a South African member of the cast told her his country celebrated her wedding in the same manner as Nelson Mandela's release from prison in 1990.

"He [the cast member] looked at me, and he's just like light," Meghan told The Cut. "'I just need you to know: When you married into [the royal family], we rejoiced in the streets the same we did when Mandela was freed from prison.'"

Jack Royston is Newsweek's chief royal correspondent based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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