Meghan Markle says she felt free to finally wear colourful outfits during her royal farewell tour in the UK - as she snubbed the so-called protocol to avoid bright clothes.
Previously she told how she shunned her bright clothes after marrying Prince Harry during the first part of their Netflix series, Harry & Meghan, which dropped last week.
But when the Duchess of Sussex knew she was leaving, she decided to "look like a rainbow" amid tensions over the outfits she'd been wearing previously.
The duchess was known for her sleek muted classic look when she began carrying out royal engagements, but her neutral colour choice was always thought to be down to her preferred style.
"Most of the time that I was in the UK, I rarely wore colour. There was thought in that, to my understanding you can't ever wear the same colour as her Majesty if there's a group event," adding: "But then you also shouldn't be wearing the same colour as other senior members of the family.
"So I was like...well, what's a colour they'll probably never wear? Camel? Beige? White? So I wore a lot of muted tones but it was also so I could just blend in.
"I'm not trying to stand out here. There's no version of me joining this family and trying not to do everything I could to fit in," Meghan added.
She added: "I don't want to embarrass the family."
In the fifth episode of their Netflix series, Harry described the final week as working royals a "real whirlwind”.
And Meghan added: "Until that last week in the UK, I rarely wore colour and I never wanted to upstage or ruffle any feathers, so I just tried to blend in.
"But I wore a lot of colour that week, I felt 'well let’s just look like a rainbow.”
Recalling the final engagement, Harry said: “We weren’t with the family. It was our opportunity to go out with a bang to be honest.
“It never needed to be this way. We talked about this over and over again, sitting up late after these late-night engagements saying: ‘We would have carried on doing this for the rest of our lives’.”
Meghan said: “I thought ‘the public – they’ve been fed these lies about me for two years. What do they think of me? They must hate us’.
“No, the people were just so embracing. They were sad that we were leaving. We were sad that we were leaving.”
Speaking about their final engagement as a working royal, the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey, Prince Harry has said it "felt cold”.
Meghan said that the first time they saw the rest of the royal family during their farewell tour was at their final engagement – a Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey in London.
She said: "The first time that we saw the other members of the family was in public at Westminster Abbey.”
Harry said they were nervous, adding: "We were nervous about seeing the family because of all the TV cameras, and everybody watching at home, and everybody watching in the audience… And it’s like living through a soap opera, where everybody else uses you as entertainment.”
The Duke of Sussex said he felt distant from the rest of his family during the event.
"I felt very distant from the rest of my family, which was interesting, because so much of how they operate is about what it looks like rather than what it feels like. And it looked cold, but it also felt cold.”
The Queen Consort and the Princess of Wales, as they are now known, were the other female royals who were more senior than Meghan, as well as the Princess Royal who is more senior by birth.
Questions are likely to be raised as to why Meghan did not get staff to check with other members of the royal family or their dressers to see what their fashion plans were, or even contact Camilla and Kate herself.
Her decision to avoid colour was the opposite approach to that taken by the Queen, who famously always wore bright colours to ensure people could always spot her.
Speaking in ITV's The Queen at 90, Sophie Wessex confirmed the Monarch's logic, saying: “She needs to stand out for people to be able to say, ‘I saw the queen'.
"Don’t forget that when she turns up somewhere, the crowds are two, three, four, 10, 15 deep, and someone wants to be able to say they saw a bit of the queen’s hat as she went past.”
Meanwhile, the royal family, including King Charles and Prince William are out on a joint engagement today, putting on a united front as they join the Princess of Wales for her Christmas carol concert in Westminster Abbey.
Nearly 2,000 people are set to gather at Abbey for some festive cheer, staged to hail the “selfless efforts of individuals, families and communities across the UK, and celebrate and showcase the joy that human connection and togetherness can bring”.
Kensington Palace said the second carol service Kate has held was dedicated to the late Queen Elizabeth II and the values she demonstrated throughout her life, including “duty, empathy, faith, service, kindness, compassion and support for others”.
The first part of Sussexes’ six-part show has become the streaming giant’s most-watched documentary in a premier week, a spokesman revealed this week, with a staggering 81.55 million hours viewed.
Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace have declined to comment so far on any allegations
Last week, royal insiders have said the King and William will keep “a dignified silence” and not engage in a “tit-for-tat” battle.
