With the release of Prince Harry’s memoir Spare, several members of the Royal Family – and even a former butler – faced their share of criticism.
Harry didn’t hold back in revealing new details about what life was like within the royal fold. Additionally, the prince addressed Meghan Markle’s relationship with Kate Middleton, highlighting a period when the two women reportedly harbored significant animosity toward one another.
It had previously been claimed that Meghan caused Kate to cry on her wedding day due to a disagreement over the flower girls’ dresses. However, Meghan later disputed those reports, suggesting that it was actually Kate who had made her cry.
It’s clear that Meghan and Kate were far from being close friends. In Spare, Harry recounted another incident where Kate reportedly lashed out at Meghan.
According to Harry, when Princess Charlotte, who was set to be a flower girl at Meghan’s wedding, tried on her dress without it being properly fitted, she ended up in tears. A frustrated Kate is said to have confronted Meghan about the matter, ultimately leading Harry to find Meghan “sobbing on the floor.”
Although they weren’t initially enemies, Meghan and Kate didn’t immediately become best friends. People did hope that the two would ultimately click and establish their rhythm, but there always seemed to be a discrepancy between them.
Meghan hasn’t been particularly vocal about her friendship with Kate. Naturally, things have been rather explosive on the occasions that she has revealed information.
Meghan & Kate’s relationship
In their Netflix documentary released in December, Meghan shared that her first meeting with Kate didn’t go as smoothly as she might have hoped.
“When Will and Kate came over, and I met her for the first time, they came over for dinner, I remember I was in ripped jeans, and I was barefoot,” Meghan recalled.
“I was a hugger. I’ve always been a hugger, I didn’t realize that that is really jarring for a lot of Brits.”
She went on to explain: “I guess I started to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside. There is a forward-facing way of being, and then you close the door and go ‘You can relax now’, but that formality carries over on both sides. And that was surprising to me.”
After their royal wedding, Harry and Meghan briefly resided at Kensington Palace, where Prince William and Kate Middleton were also living at the time. However, although this was expected to be a joyful time for the two couples, tensions soon arose, leading to a swift departure for Harry and Meghan as they moved to their own residence.
Not far from William and Kate, Harry and Meghan relocated to Nottingham Cottage. At that moment, the two spouses’ relationship worsened. Tom Quinn says this occurred for a number of reasons.
Meghan didn’t want Kate to take the first picture of Archie
Meghan reportedly struggled with the reality that Kensington Palace was exclusively designated for William and Kate. At the same time, a senior royal aide allegedly told her she’d never be “in the first division.”
“It was being pointed out to them in no uncertain terms that they weren’t in the first division because that place is held by William and Kate. Inevitably that led to friction,” Quinn claimed.
“In Meghan’s world, if you’re determined enough, you can get to the top. But Meghan can’t, she can’t get to the top whatever she does.”
The official end of Harry and Meghan’s royal duties came on March 31, 2020. By that time, the couple had already welcomed their first child, Archie. Their family later grew to include a daughter, Lilibet.
According to royal expert Neil Sean, Kate once offered to take the first newborn photos of Archie. However, Meghan reportedly declined, opting instead to “hire a photographer” for the task.
“This was a very special gesture from the now-Princess of Wales to Meghan Markle when she had her first child, Archie,” Sean said in a YouTube video, as reported by Express. He further explained that Kate had offered to “take the personal picture of baby Archie” after receiving praise for her photography skills from professional photographers.
Meghan has a tense connection with a number of Royal Family members these days. As previously mentioned, the former actress had a difficult relationship with Kate Middleton in particular from the start, and vice versa.
‘Kate didn’t make an effort to welcome Meghan in royal family’
Authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand suggest in their book Finding Freedom that the two women weren’t necessarily feuding from the beginning. Instead, it appears the two royals simply didn’t know each other well.
“Meghan would agree with the assessment that the duchesses were not the best of friends,” they wrote. “Their relationship hadn’t progressed much since [Markle] was Harry’s girlfriend.”
Additionally, the authors note that Kate didn’t put much effort into making Meghan feel welcome in the family, at least not to the extent that might have been expected.
Meghan reportedly hoped Kate would mentor her and help her navigate the complexities of joining “the Firm” as an outsider. However, according to the authors, that support never materialized.
“Meghan was disappointed that she and Kate hadn’t bonded over the position they shared, but she wasn’t losing sleep over it,” Scobie and Durand wrote in Finding Freedom, also noting, “Meghan would far rather have had Kate check in on her during the most difficult times with the press.”
Things then became more heated in the lead-up to Harry and Meghan’s wedding.
Kate made her cry on wedding day, Meghan claimed
Meghan Markle, in her interview with Oprah, shared that Kate Middleton made her cry over the flower-girl dresses during her wedding preparations. This statement directly contradicted earlier claims reported by the tabloids.
