Royals watchers accused actress Priyanka Chopra of showing support for her friend Meghan Markle by refusing to join in applauding Prince William and Kate when they arrived at Centre Court to watch the Women’s Singles Final at Wimbledon on Saturday (July 10).
Prince William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, were greeted by enthusiastic applause as they made their way to the Royal Box.
Footage circulating online shows the crowd at Wimbledon cheering and clapping as the Royals took their seats to watch the 2021 Wimbledon Championships Women’s Singles final between Ashleigh Barty and Karolina Pliskova.
But while other people clapped and cheered, Chopra, who was sitting a few rows behind Kate and William, adjusted her scarf and drew aside a lock of hair falling over her face.
She then appeared to look away, stern-faced.
Chopra also allegedly ‘snubbed’ William and Kate after the match
Photos taken after the match showed the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge chatting with VIPs. However, Priyanka appeared to avoid engaging with the Royals by looking away.
After the video and images emerged online, many royal fans took to social media to allege that Chopra, 38, deliberately refused to clap and acknowledge William and Kate because she wanted to show her disapproval of the Royals and support her friend, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.
Chopra came under fire on Twitter but others defended her
Chopra came under fire from royal fans who accused her of deliberately “snubbing” the Royals to show loyalty to her friend, Meghan.
“Oh nooooo another D-list actress thinks she’s really snubbing William& Kate,” one Twitter user reacted.
Some Twitter users came to Chopra’s defense. They argued there was no reason to believe she failed to clap because she wanted to “snub” the Royals.
Others claimed to have spotted other VIPs who also didn’t clap as the Royals took their seats.
“Butt this really is ludicrous,” a Twitter user wrote. “By the Mail’s logic, Billie Jean King and a dozen others are ‘ignoring’ (I don’t know why they put the word in inverted commas) the applause for William and Kate.”
Meghan and Chopra are friends
Meghan and Chopra have reportedly been friends since they met in 2019 at the ELLE Women in Television dinner. Chopra was one of several U.S. celebrities Meghan invited to her wedding with Harry in May 2018.
Other U.S. celebs who attended Meghan’s wedding included Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney and his wife Amal, and Idris Elba and his wife Sabrina.
Chopra has shown support for Meghan since the Duchess fell out with the Royal Family following Megxit.
Chopra contributed a profile article praising Meghan when the Duchess was included in the Time Magazine’s annual 100 Most Influential People 2018 list.