Meghan Markle has been criticised by a royal commentator, who said her Paris trip over the weekend was an “absolute shambles” and a “desperate bid for relevance” that had backfired on her. The Duchess of Sussex headed to France on Saturday, to attend Balenciaga’s Womenswear Spring/Summer 2026 fashion show during Paris Fashion Week.
But her appearance was overshadowed by a video she uploaded after the afterparty, showing moments of her trip including her relaxing in a limo as she was driving near where Prince Harry’s mother, the late Princess Diana, died in 1997. Various people online also mocked her for her catwalk walk as she exited the fashion show and for having an awkward encounter with her friend and Balenciaga creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli. According to a royal commentator, Meghan’s trip to France was a “humiliating flop,” which highlighted how “she’s become a laughing stock in the fashion world.”
Lee Cohen, a US-based columnist/royal and foreign policy commentator, told the Express: “Her whole Paris outing was an absolute shambles from start to finish, a desperate bid for relevance that backfired into a mockery of epic proportions.
“Showing up at the Balenciaga show in that ill-fitting white getup, strutting like she’s auditioning for a bad parody of a supermodel—it’s all so fake and forced, like she’s trying way too hard to play the part of a fashion icon but ending up as the punchline.
“The video of her exiting the show has been ripped apart online, and rightly so; her awkward poses, that stiff walk reminiscent of Zoolander’s over-the-top ego, and the clumsy interaction with the creative director scream inauthenticity.”
Mr Cohen claimed that the backlash over Meghan’s appearance in Paris highlights “how she’s become a laughing stock in the fashion world.”
He added: “This wasn’t a triumph; it was a humiliating flop that underscores her fading star power and inability to read the room.”
A spokesman said of Meghan’s Paris trip: “This evening reflects the culmination of many years of artistry and friendship, reflected in her support for his new creative chapter at Balenciaga.”