Footage appeared to capture Meghan Markle glaring at an adviser after she tapped Prince Harry on the back during a children's hospital visit this week.
Meghan's warm facial expression noticeably dropped during the awkward moment on the couple's four-day tour in Australia.
Meghan and Harry were on their first public engagement on Tuesday, an internal walkabout of the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, which had been opened by the prince's grandmother Queen Elizabeth II in 2011.
A small, enthusiastic crowd of staff, visiting patients and families gathered in the hospital's ground floor atrium, with Harry in meet-and-greet mode when the moment occurred.
He had patted and chatted to children and had just been embraced by a smiling woman when the Sussexes' staffer, the couple's long-term chief-of-staff Sarah Fosmo, approached from behind and placed her hand on his right shoulder.
She still had her hand on Harry's back when Meghan fixed her with a stare, the duchess's mouth tightening in its grin.
The glare lasted for around two seconds as Meghan moved in closer to Ms Fosmo, batting her eyelashes as she grabbed her husband’s hand.
Ms Fosmo was trying to alert Harry to the people who had gathered above on the glass-lined walkways which zig-zagged from the ground floor up three storeys and were by then a crush of waving fans.
Sussex staff Sarah Fosmo pats Harry on the back during the couple's inaugural event of their Australian tour at the Children's Hospital in Melbourne
The familiarity and interruption did not seem to please the duchess, who turned to Ms Fosmo with a killer glare before grabbing her husband and moving on in the hospital crowd.
'Look,' she said, pointing upwards, as Meghan seemed to move the prince on from the woman.
And as the minutes ticked by, Meghan too was acknowledging the crowd above as her husband was busy shaking hands and greeting children.
The footage was shared on X, where hundreds of social media users picked apart the tense moment.
'She dared to touch Harry, and nobody touches Harry except...,' one said.
'If eyes could throw daggers, this poor woman would be a sieve,' a second wrote.
Given Ms Fosmo's time with the couple - according to reports they 'take her everywhere' including on their February trip to Jordan - she would have the familiarity to give the prince a friendly tap to draw his attention to cheering fans.
One social media user suggested the adviser's job could be on the line, alluding to Harry and Meghan's high staff turnover in recent years.
Another joked the couple probably 'left her behind in Australia and now she has to pay for a return flight home'.
Meghan closes in on Ms Fosmo and her smile tightens as the couple's chief-of-staff seems just intent on getting the prince to notice the enthusiastic crowd above them
As the minutes ticked by at the Melbourne Children's Hospital, Meghan too was acknowledging the crowd above as her husband was greeting children and their parents
X users joked that the 'glare' incident might mean that the Sussexes chief-of-staff would end up working in the remote Falkland Islands
Another said, 'I hear she has a new gig on the Falkland Islands'.
Last December, the couple lost their eleventh publicist in just five years, when their 'cheerleader' PR boss Meredith Maines announced she was stepping down after only a year with the couple.
This after just a few months into her role as chief communications officer. Long term media adviser Miranda Barbot then transitioned into the role of Vice President of Programs and Operations.
Ms Maines stated she would be 'pursuing a new opportunity' in 2026, her exit marking the fifth key member of publicity staff to leave Harry and Meghan in the second half of 2025 alone, amid continuing accusations the couple are 'difficult' to work with.
Liam Maguire, the couple's UK and Europe director of communications moved into the lead role on all publicity-related work and was in charge on the Sussexes' four-day Australian tour.
Ms Fosmo has been with the Sussexes for 17 months and was previously Deputy Executive Administration Director in the office of Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
