Royally despised?
The Australian woman, dubbed the “Queen of Things” by fans on social media, has been in the news for ignoring Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during a surprise visit to Bondi Beach last Friday.
The wild scene happened as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped onto the sand on the final day of their domestic tour with a throng of fans, lifeguards and cameras.
As seen in video footage obtained by the Daily Mail, the unidentified beachgoer was unconcerned as he lounged on the beach while all eyes were on Prince Harry and Markle.
The 41-year-old duke and 44-year-old duchess led a large group past, while the ‘queen who doesn’t care’ lay on a beach towel reading a book.
The Sussexes walked right by the sunbathers without flinching, but she made no attempt to get in her way or join the crowd as Prince Harry and Markle headed to the coastline for a lifeguard demonstration.
The scene quickly went viral, with users flooding social media to joke about the incident and cheer for the Bondi bathers who didn’t stand up to join the swarming crowd.
“No-holds-barred queen!” one person wrote on Reddit, along with a clip of the encounter.
“Love this woman!” another commented.
“Why does she have to move?” asked a third, while a fourth shared: “This woman wanted to appear on camera as a woman who doesn’t do anything nasty.”
Others came to Harry and Markle’s defense, suggesting that the “indifferent queen” may not have known the Sussexes were on the beach.
One user wrote: “She looks confused, like she just woke up from a nap.” “She didn’t seem to know what was going on.”
“I think this visit to Australia has highlighted the fact that the media reports surrounding Harry (and especially Meghan) are not true,” added another. “The media would have led us to believe that she would be booed, tarred and feathered, but many people seemed happy to see it.”
Representatives for Prince Harry and Markle did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
Last Friday’s visit to Bondi Beach was one of the last events before leaving the country after a four-day visit to Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney.
As well as watching a lifeguard demonstration, the royal couple also held a private meeting with first responders and survivors of last year’s tragic Bondi Beach shooting, which left 15 people dead.
Elsewhere on their whirlwind tour of Australia, Prince Harry and Markle visited a children’s hospital, met veterans and watched a rugby match.
But the Duchess of Sussex also came under fire for claiming she was the “most trolled person in the world” during a visit to a youth mental health organization in Australia.
And on Friday, Markle angered fans after she attended a three-day weekend retreat for only two hours.
The retreat, sponsored by Her Best Life, charged participants more than $3,199 for a “girls weekend like no other.”
However, Markle left the event after a short question-and-answer session moderated by Her Best Life founder Gemma O’Neill.
“Why didn’t Meghan Markle share a meal with the women she paid $3,000 to spend her ‘retreat’ with? What’s the point?” one person tweeted.
“Ridiculous. They advertised it like she was spending the whole weekend with them,” another person commented, while another shared: “2 hours? I thought it was a weekend retreat? Wow!”
Markle’s rep revealed in a statement to Page Six that the “Suits” alum had no plans to attend the entire retreat.
