AN OPENANDSHUT DISPLAY OF ROYAL AUTONOMY

LONDON» First she married Prince Harry. Now she’s rocking Givenchy and shutting car doors by herself. Is there anything Meghan Markle cannot do?

The answer, for many Brits, is “no.”

The duchess of Sussex embarked on her first solo trip as a royal on Tuesday night, attending the opening of “Oceania” at London’s Royal Academy of Arts. As Markle arrived at the venue, her car door was opened for her. Seconds later, she was slamming it shut. All. By. Herself.

While news of a woman closing a door in 2018 does not usually ignite global debate, Markle’s smallyetperhapsratherlarge gesture caused quite the stir on social media. Royals generally have someone on hand to open and close doors for them, so Markle’s autonomous move raised eyebrows — and sparked questions.

“Did Markle break protocol?” pondered some. “Is she the first royal to close her own door?” wondered others. Some simply demanded to know what the world was coming to.

Markle’s doorclosing went viral within hours, with footage of the moment circulating on Twitter. While some praised her for her “humble” and “down to earth” action, others couldn’t resist injecting a dose of typical British humor:

“Breaking news: Meghan Markle shut her car door all by her little ole self yesterday,” tweeted one sarcastic observer. “Gasp.”

“Because I was so inspired by Meghan Markle, as I left the house this morning I shut my own front door,” wrote another.

“A princess who still takes the time to shut her car door. Well done, Meghan!” tweeted the royal correspondent for the Sun, Emily Andrews, seemingly impressed by the incident.

For one morefrustrated tweeter, widespread news coverage of Meghan’s doorclosing capability became too much to handle: “The U.K. is careening off a Brexit cliff edge and that’s deemed newsworthy !!!!!! ”

So, did the duchess break protocol? The answer: No.

“In the royal goldfish bowl, everything is noticed,” royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said. “The phrase ‘royal protocol’ means you mustn’t do selfies and autographs and so on. Yes, there are dos and don’ts, but in this case Meghan was just doing her own thing.” — The Washington Post