Royally snubbed?
An Australian woman, dubbed the “unbothered queen” by fans on social media, has gone viral after ignoring Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during their surprise visit to Bondi Beach last Friday.
The wild scene occurred when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped onto the sand with a large group of fans, lifeguards and cameras on the final day of their tour of the country.
While all other eyes were glued to Harry and Markle, the unidentified beachgoer couldn’t care less as she lounged on the beach, as seen in video footage obtained by the Daily Mail.
As the duke, 41, and duchess, 44, walked by with the large group in tow, the “unbothered queen” remained lying on a beach towel reading her book.
Although the Sussexes walked right by the unfazed sunbather, she didn’t attempt to get out of the way or join the crowd as Harry and Markle made their way down to the shoreline for a lifeguard demonstration.
The scene quickly went viral, and users rushed to social media to joke about the incident and cheer on the Bondi beachgoer for not getting up to join the swarming crowd.
“Unbothered queen!” one person wrote on Reddit alongside a clip of the encounter.
“Love this woman!” another commented.
“Why should she move?” asked a third, while a fourth shared, “This lady wanted to be on camera as the one with zero f–ks.”
Meanwhile, others defended Harry and Markle and suggested the “unbothered queen” didn’t realize the Sussexes were there at the beach.
“She looks confused like she woke up from a nap,” one user wrote. “It seems like she didn’t know what was going on.”
“I think this Australia trip has highlighted the fact that the media narrative surrounding Harry (and especially) Meghan is not true,” another added. “The media would have you believe that she was going to be booed or tarred and feathered, but a lot of people seemed happy to see them.”
Harry and Markle’s reps did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
The Sussexes’ visit to Bondi Beach last Friday marked one of their final events before leaving the country following a four-day visit to Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney.
Besides observing a lifeguard demonstration, the royal couple also held a private meeting with first responders and survivors from last year’s tragic Bondi Beach shooting that left 15 people dead.
Elsewhere during their whirlwind tour of Australia, Harry and Markle visited a children’s hospital, met with veterans and attended a rugby match.
But the Duchess of Sussex also came under fire for claiming she was the “most trolled person in the entire world” during a visit to an Australian youth mental health organization.
Then, on Friday, Markle left fans fuming when she only attended a three-day weekend retreat for two hours.
The retreat, organized by Her Best Life, charged attendees upwards of $3,199 for the “girls’ weekend like no other.”
However, Markle left the event following a short Q&A session hosted by Her Best Life founder Gemma O’Neill.
“How ridiculous, they advertised like she was spending the whole weekend with them,” commented another, while a third shared, “2 hours? I thought it was a weekend retreat? WOW!”
A rep for Markle clarified in a statement to Page Six that the “Suits” alum was never scheduled to attend the entire retreat.
