Meghan Markle opted to avoid the Met Gala on Monday night after weeks of a "would she, won't she attend" debate.
The Duchess of Sussex, 41, had already ruled herself out of attending the King's Coronation next weekend, but speculation still surrounded her possible appearance at the fashion event of the year.
However, she was nowhere to be seen, and a PR expert believes that is because she wouldn't have been the "biggest player in the room".
Kieran Elsby, director of Media Global PR, said her no-show would have been something he would have recommended, saying the public are "very tired of her and Harry".
He said it was time for the pair to "recalibrate" in a bid to protect their brand from any further bashing.
However, he believes Meghan might have simply opted to miss the gala in New York because she would have had to rival the other celebs to be centre of attention.
Kieran added: "I’m sure if she would have attended as she would not of made many headlines, with so much competition.
"It comes back to celebrities wanting ‘All Eyes On Me’ and she wouldn’t have been anywhere near the big player in the room. So best to duck, dive and avoid, until she can find an event all about her."
He continued: "[She] maybe dodged the event to stop an ego-bashing?"
The comments come after it's claimed both Meghan and Harry were unsure whether they would be welcome at the Coronation and waited "some time" for their invite.
Harry is expected to arrive in the UK this week ahead of the state occasion but will attend alone without his wife or their two children, Archie and Lilibet.
Speaking about the Duke of Sussex attending the Coronation, Omid Scobie told This Morning's Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby : "There was never any question about whether he would want to come or not, it was a question at one point of whether he would be invited.
"From what I understand, the Sussexes had to wait some time to get that confirmation that they were 100 percent welcome at this event. Of course this all follows the release of Spare but, for Harry there was no question about it."
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