Meghan Markle footage shows Duchess in ‘control mode’ at the polo – two years before awkward clip with Sentebale boss which is at the heart of Prince Harry’s charity feud

Toe-curling footage of Meghan Markle manoeuvring Sentebale’s boss away from Prince Harry has become a key moment in the royal’s charity descending into chaos.

The Duchess of Sussex forced chairwoman Dr Sophie Chandauka to duck under a trophy as her husband celebrated a win in Florida in aid of the charity in April 2024.

Dr Chandauka’s failure to defend Meghan after the incident at the Royal Salute Polo Challenge allegedly led to Sentebale co-founder Harry sending her an ‘unpleasant’ and ‘imperious’ note demanding she ‘explain herself’ before his resignation last week.

But MailOnline can now reveal that Meghan was filmed two years earlier at the centre of more chaos at a different polo tournament where she got stuck under the Lisle Nixon Memorial trophy at the Santa Barbara Polo Club in California in May 2022.

There were further issues when her wide-brimmed hat meant she could not easily kiss Harry, then her lipstick smeared on his face and she wiped it away with her hand.

Body language expert Judi James analysed both videos and said they reveal much about her personality and her desire to ‘lead the choreography’ at public events.

She added that the lipstick wiping would recall memories for children of ‘when their mum got a hankie out for a mortifying last-min face wash at the school gates’.

Ms James told MailOnline that Meghan can come across ‘bossy’ on both videos – but this depends on whether the viewer believes she should be on stage in the first place.

She compared the Duchess to Margaret Thatcher in her pomp because Meghan can be seen showing moving Harry and others in a similar way to how the former prime minister positioned her Cabinet members and husband Denis during photo ops.

And crucially, at both polo events, Meghan found herself at centre stage and in what Ms James described as ‘control mode’.

Analysing the 2022 video, Ms James said: ‘Meghan might not have encountered the undiluted machismo of the world of polo before and we can see her vying to help out with the choreography in a way similar to the more recent on-stage two-step.

‘She looks comfortable in the role she has presumably been booked for, which entails giving gifts to the winners and raising her hand in a ‘modesty shield’ gesture as she plants a kiss on Harry’s mouth.

‘She moves to his left side but appears unwilling to drop her signals of attachment and intimacy, touching Harry’s bicep before going full dominant ‘maternal mode’, touching his face and then wiping lipstick off his mouth in a gesture that many kids remember when their mum got a hankie out for a mortifying last-min face wash at the school gates.’

She said Meghan was herself directed to Harry’s other side and her ‘small polite bounce or little hop into place’ suggested she was happy to take direction herself when necessary, adding: ‘No signs of any ‘total control’ tendencies.’

But Ms James continued: ‘She does seem to remain in some form of ‘control’ mode though, gesturing Harry forward to pick up the cup and tapping the player next to her on the arm to apparently alert him too.

‘Meghan attempts to take the wooden box, likely Champagne, from the hands of the other player, but he refuses to let go. Presumably she is taking it from him so his hands are free to lift the trophy, but it shows her natural-looking tendency to lead the choreography.

‘As the trophy is raised, Meghan is pushed to the back and squashed under the cup, needing to hold her large-brimmed hat until she manages to move forward to perform some seal-claps of congratulation.’

Meghan had been on hand to present Harry and his team, Los Padres, with a trophy after they won an event at the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club.

But the prize-giving had clearly not been rehearsed and Meghan ended up being squashed between Harry and one of his teenage teammates as they struggled to lift the heavy cup over her head for a photo.

After a few seconds in the shadows at the back of the stage, Meghan stepped to the front of the stage for her moment in the spotlight.

Footage of the encounter was shared online by an X user who noted it looked like they ‘didn’t know where to put her’ and then ended up ‘blocking her with the trophy’.

Harry’s team, which is captained by his friend Nacho Figueras, dubbed the ‘David Beckham of polo’, took home the Lisle Nixon Memorial trophy at the star-studded event, which was open to the public and attracted stars including Rebel Wilson and Meghan’s actress BFF Abigail Spencer.

Meghan, who wore a black wide brim hat, polka dot blouse and £670 high-rise pleated shorts, was on hand to present the prize and pecked each team member on the cheek – before planting a kiss on her husband’s mouth.

Realising some of her lipstick had rubbed off, she took her finger and gave Harry’s lips a wipe in an intimate moment watched by the crowd of spectators.

As seen in the clip, Meghan then moved herself to the middle of the stage, ready for the trophy photo.

Harry appeared to be telling his younger teammates, who were both 16, how the moment should unfold when captain Figueras, a longtime friend of the Sussexes, reached in and lifted the trophy above his head and passed it to Harry.

The prince then told his young teammates to ‘hold it’.

But the commotion meant Meghan was pushed to the back of the stage. The mother-of-two clapped in the shadows before stepping forward again into the spotlight, pushing underneath Harry’s arms.

It came just before the Duke and Duchess were to jet off to London for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend.

And two years later Meghan was caught in another awkward polo event moment in Florida in April 2024, which Ms James has also analysed.

She told MailOnline: ‘Margaret Thatcher had a habit of arranging world leaders around for formal photos and it always enhanced her reputation for being ‘bossy’ as, at a leadership event, it would imply someone is in charge and controlling the others.

‘Meghan clearly has the skill of composing a good shot and it’s probably the same trait of directing others that has made this short clip come under so much scrutiny.’

Ms James said the crowded stage made the ‘pose set-up very awkward’, pointed out that Meghan was already in an awkward spot behind the cup when Dr Chandauka stepped on stage.

She continued: ‘As the charity boss walks up onto the stage, she appears to hold out her hands in an intentional gesture as though expecting to help Harry lift or hold it.

‘Harry moves back to create some space and the other player lets go of the cup and at this point it looks like anyone’s guess who is going to end up holding it.

‘Meghan’s eye gaze and her head drop downward as she moves towards Harry and she seems to motion the other player away to create a gap for the charity boss, holding her arm out in a gesture of invitation.’

‘Meghan beckons again and the third woman also seems to hold her hand out to display the gap. The cup-holding is looking more awkward by then and the charity boss has to duck underneath it to get to the spot Meghan has made for her.

‘She does end up right behind the cup though and the women all put their arms around each other to create a friendly pose as Meghan gazes up at Harry.’

Ms James concluded: ‘A lot depends on whether the viewer likes Meghan or not and whether she was seen by the others as having the ‘right’ to be up there directing the pose or not’.

The excruciating video from Florida has taken on new importance in recent days after it was claimed the polo event was gatecrashed by the former Suits star with Serena Williams and a Netflix crew in tow.

The footage of Meghan and Dr Chandauka with Harry at the centre has been watched millions of times online in the past year but is being viewed again in a new light after Dr Chandauka’s bombshell interview with Sky News where she discussed the notorious clip.

Meghan had caused ‘disruption’ and a very crowded stage after turning up at short notice and bringing her ‘very famous friend’ Serena Williams , the chair of Harry’s charity claimed.

Dr Chandauka also called their brand ‘toxic’ and accusing Harry of ‘harassment and bullying at scale’ – a claim that is denied .

She also claims that, prior to the charity event in April 2024, Meghan confirmed she would not be attending. But she then arrived with her tennis legend friend Serena.

Speaking to Sky News’s Trevor Phillips, Dr Chandauka recalled the events of the chaotic event, telling him: ‘ We would have been really excited had we known ahead of time [Meghan was coming], but we didn’t.

‘And so the choreography went badly on stage because we had too many people on stage. The international press captured this, and there was a lot of talk about the Duchess and the choreography on stage and whether she should have been there and her treatment of me.

‘Prince Harry asked me to issue some sort of a statement in support of the Duchess, and I said I wouldn’t.

‘Not because I didn’t care about the Duchess, but because I knew what would happen if I did so, number one. And number two, because we cannot be an extension of the Sussexes.’

Meghan was filmed asking Dr Chandauka not to stand next to the duke at the trophy presentation.

The former actress could be seen in video footage from Hello requesting that Dr Chandauka move to another spot in the group, insisting that she be in the middle of the huddle next to her husband.

Moments before, Meghan had kissed her husband to celebrate his win.

In the footage from April 2024, Dr Chandauka, who was stood on the Duke’s right, was asked twice by Meghan to move to her left side away from Harry, as he kept his arm around his wife.

Others therefore had to shuffle around them to find a place, with Dr Chandauka awkwardly having to duck under the trophy to get into the position Meghan was asking her to stand in. Dr Chandauka then said something inaudible to her.

‘The international press captured this, and there was a lot of talk about the Duchess and the choreography on stage and whether she should have been there and her treatment of me.

‘Prince Harry asked me to issue some sort of a statement in support of the Duchess, and I said I wouldn’t.

‘Not because I didn’t care about the Duchess, but because I knew what would happen if I did so, number one. And number two, because we cannot be an extension of the Sussexes.’

Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams said Meghan’s unexpected appearance at the event ’caused confusion’, describing the incident between the Duchess and Dr Chavunduka onstage as ‘awkward’.

‘Meghan was not expected at a polo match in 2024 and this caused confusion which was symptomatic of the chaos which Dr Chavunduka claims the charity had descended into,’ he told MailOnline.

‘She refused to issue a statement in support of Meghan, there had been an awkward incident between them.’

Mr Fitzwilliams added: ‘The ferocious feud that has split Sentebale, which Prince Harry co-founded in memory of his beloved mother, Princess Diana, will be a bitter blow to him, as he now has no link with a charity that he has been involved with since 2006, when he co-founded it .’

The expert also said the accusations of ‘bullying against’ Harry – claims the Duke’s representatives have strongly denied – echo previous accusations of bullying against his wife Meghan – also strongly denied.

‘Harry has been accused of ‘bullying and harassment’. There are echoes here of the allegations against Meghan which appeared in the Times before the infamous interview they gave on Oprah , which she strongly denied,’ Mr Fitzwilliams said.

‘However they have recently surfaced in The Hollywood Reporter and Vanity Fair. They will surely adversely affect the Sussexes image.’

Last week, Prince Harry announced that he and several trustees had quit Sentebale, the charity he set up with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in 2006, amid a boardroom battle within the organisation.

Dr Chandauka, who has been chairwoman of Sentebale since 2023, accused the duke of being ‘involved’ in a ‘cover-up’ of an investigation about bullying, harassment and misogyny at the organisation and said the ‘toxicity’ of his ‘brand’ had impacted the charity.

A source close to the former trustees of the Sentebale charity described Dr Chandauka’s claims that she was bullied and harassed, briefed against by Prince Harry, or that the Sussex machine was ‘unleashed on her’ as ‘completely baseless’.

Dr Chandauka also claimed that before the event, an opportunity for Sentebale to do a charity Polo Challenge in Miami was ruined when Harry insisted on bringing his Netflix camera crew along .

‘About a month before the event was about to take place, Prince Harry called the team and said, ‘I’m doing a Netflix show, and I would love to bring a camera crew so that I can include some footage in this show,” she said.

‘And so the team called me and told me, ‘Oh, Prince Harry’s made this request, so we’re doing the things’.

‘I said, you can’t be doing the things without seeking consent from the property owners, the sponsors, all the guests. Nobody signed up to being on a Netflix show.’

She added: ‘We come up with draft agreements and of course, the venue owner says this is now a commercial undertaking. So here are my terms. We couldn’t afford it. So now we lost the venue.’

In an astonishing message to Harry the chairman also said: ‘The team is resolved that Sentebale will live on, with or without you.’

Harry’s two-month trip to the kingdom of Lesotho during his gap year aged 19 inspired him to establish the charity two years later in honour of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.

The young duke came face-to-face with Aids orphans, met other traumatised young people and visited herd boys living a harsh existence looking after cattle in remote mountain areas.