Kelly Rowland reflects on meeting Meghan Markle: ‘She was royal before she was in that family’

Pair met while at Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour

Kelly Rowland may have known Beyoncé for years but she’s just now opening up about the person she got to meet for the first time at the singer’s concert.

The Duchess of Sussex was at Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour concert in Los Angeles on 4 September, which also happened to be the performer’s birthday. The outing marked Meghan’s second Beyoncé concert in four days, where she shimmered in a silver skirt and posed for a photo with Rowland and Kerry Washington.

“It was my first time meeting her. It was just nice being there with other great women and being able to just simply talk,” the former band member of Destiny’s Child told Hello! Magazine.

“I don’t know what people expect to see or to know, but she just felt very cool and very down to earth. She is very warm.”

The singer also took the opportunity to address Meghan’s royal status. The duchess first became part of the royal family in 2018, when she married Prince Harry. However, in 2020, the couple decided to step back from their roles and moved to California, where they currently live with their two children: Prince Archie, four, and Princess Lillibet, two.

“She was royal before she was in that family. I think that we are royalty before anything. And we have to hold ourselves in that regard as humans, as people,” Rowland said.

In addition to seeing the show with the Duchess of Sussex, Washington was also in attendance. The trio followed the singer’s wishes to wear silver to her shows in honour of her birthday on 4 September. “Virgo season is upon us,” Beyoncé wrote on her Instagram Stories at the time. “This tour has been such a joy and as we approach the last month, my birthday wish is to celebrate with you wearing your most fabulous silver fashions to the show 8.23 - 9.22.”

“We’ll surround ourselves in a shimmering human disco ball each night. Everybody mirroring each other’s joy, Virgo season together in the House of Chrome. See you there!”

Meghan was seen wearing a high-neck black top with a metallic silver skirt while Rowland wore a black corset style top complete with a silver choker necklace and silver face jewels. Washington wore a silver and black sequined top and carried a silver purse.

The former royal’s outfit was similar to the one she wore at another of Beyoncé’s concerts just days before with her mother, Doria Ragland and her husband. For the occasion, she sported a glittering silver skirt and white tank top, while her mom donned a chic high-necked silver top and white pants. Harry opted for a more subtle outfit, wearing a grey shirt, grey blazer and white pants.

In addition to Rowland, the Sussexes seem to have a relationship with Queen Bey herself. They first met the singer, and her husband Jay-Z, in 2019 at the premiere of The Lion King in London.

The couples appeared to remain close, as Meghan revealed in the Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, that Beyoncé had texted her after she and Harry sat down for an interview with Oprah Winfrey in spring 2021.