Meghan Markle didn't appear, but 'Suits' slipped a Prince Harry joke into its series finale

The Duchess of Sussex's former colleagues slipped a joke about her husband into the "Suits" series finale — but we're pretty sure the royal family won't take it too hard.

Meghan Markle starred on "Suits" from 2011 through 2018, her final episode airing just before she married Prince Harry. One and a half years later, the show said goodbye this week after nine seasons on the air.

The nod to Meghan and Harry was brief but effective: As Louis (Rick Hoffman) is preparing for his wedding ceremony, his best friend Harvey (Gabriel Macht) does a double-take. "Wait a second. Are you wearing a morning coat?" he asks.

After Louis responds affirmatively, Harvey replies, "Louis, you're not the prince of England."

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Although some fans were holding out for an appearance from the duchess herself, most knew a cameo was unlikely. However, there were some flashback clips that showed several of her scenes from earlier seasons.

"Suits" creator Aaron Korsh revealed that although it was tempting to approach Meghan about reprising her role in some fashion, he ultimately couldn't bring himself to do it.

"I thought about asking, and I thought about even using audio footage that we have to come up with something, and in the end, I didn’t ask," he told Deadline. "I just thought, I’m going to respect her new life and not put her in the position of having to ask. We decided not to put her in that position so I never asked."

Korsh did ask Patrick J. Adams, who left when Meghan did, if he would make a return — and Adams' willingness to participate ended up shaping the entire series finale: The story was "highly contingent on it, but Patrick was on board pretty early."