As CB always notes, the royals love to tell on themselves. Their royalist defenders do as well – it’s clear that Kensington Palace has sent out an SOS to all of their biggest rota cheerleaders, demanding that the Princess of Wales must be centered and embiggened no matter what. Absent from all of these defenses is any credible excuse or rationale for why Kate was apparently openly discussing her “concerns” over the skin color of Meghan’s babies. Instead, we’re getting stuff like Camilla Tominey’s latest, “Why has Meghan never really taken to Kate?” This is supposed to be some hamfisted rebuke, an argument that Meghan was the aggressor, that she was “rude” to Kate, that Meghan didn’t “know her place.” What’s crazy is that there are some new pieces of information in this piece which… make Meghan look good and make Kate look like an a–hole. Of course, that’s not supposed to be the takeaway but…

The Sussexes & Cambridges’ first joint appearance at the foundation event in 2018: “‘Women don’t need to find a voice. They have a voice. They need to feel empowered to use it,” Meghan quotably exhorted as Harry looked on with awe and his brother and Kate stood by with expressionless irritation.” The event was supposed to be about promoting better mental health, and here was the Duchess, seemingly politicising it. The quartet would never appear together again, except in the context of larger royal engagements, such as Trooping the Colour, the Platinum Jubilee, and of course, the late Queen’s funeral. But the awkwardness on display that frosty day provides an insight into the many reasons why Meghan appears never to have taken to Kate – and vice versa.

The foundation event was the real turning point: Although some believe the royal sisterhood broke down following a tearful row over a bridesmaids’ dress fitting for Princess Charlotte in the run-up to Harry and Meghan’s wedding in May 2018 – that Royal Foundation Forum proved to be a significant pinch point. At the time the Beast from the East was sweeping through the UK, leading to freezing temperatures, heavy snow and heavy winds. Royal aides were therefore surprised to find Meghan had dressed in a summer dress for the summit – as Kate, who was seven months pregnant with Prince Louis at the time, opted for something rather more conservative.

Meghan didn’t bow & scrape around William & Kate: According to an insider with knowledge of the engagement, Meghan seemed uncomfortable having to so publicly play “second fiddle” to William and Kate as the superior royals in the palace hierarchy. “I think there was always a sense that Meghan felt she was a self-made woman whereas Kate hadn’t really had her own career. She seemed to feel like she had more of a right to speak than her sister-in-law, who had married into the family as an unknown whereas Meghan regarded herself as a philanthropist who could teach the royals a thing or two about charity. I think she found it difficult that the Royal Foundation was already a well oiled machine by the time she got there,” said the source.

Meghan kept Doria away from the white supremacists: Around the same time as the Forum, Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland flew to London for her daughter’s baptism and other wedding preparations but, curiously, she was never introduced to William and Kate – despite the Prince and Princess repeatedly asking to meet her. “It was all very bizarre,” said one source. “Meghan seemed to want to put a separation between them.” In truth, there had been a degree of frisson almost as soon as Meghan officially arrived on the royal scene in 2016 to a lukewarm reception from “formal” William and Kate, who as well as finding her “a little full on”, had no idea she would be a keeper, having met a succession of Harry’s girlfriends.

William & Kate were influenced by their bigoted friends: The Prince and Princess of Wales may well have been influenced by mutual friends raising concerns following a shooting party at Sandringham when Meghan apparently clashed with 16 invited guests over issues including the imminent election of Donald Trump as US President in January 2017. As Tom Bower revealed in his 2022 book Revenge: “Without hesitation, Meghan challenged every guest whose conversation contravened her values. Beyond Harry’s hearing, some friends questioned Meghan’s “wokery”. Meghan was a dampener on the party, they concluded. She lacked any sense of humour. Driving home after Sunday lunch, the texts pinged between the cars: “OMG what about HER?” said one; “Harry must be f***ing nuts.”

Meghan called her Kate, not Catherine: To add insult to injury, as Harry revealed in Spare, when he first introduced Meghan to his brother – Kate remained in the garden, playing with the children – hardly the welcome they both wanted. From that point onwards, Meghan always pointedly insisted on calling the Princess of Wales “Kate” even though the rest of the family referred to her as “Catherine”.

Meghan saw that the Middletons were grifters: The Middletons also soon proved to be a bone of contention for the Duchess. She mistakenly believed that Kate’s parents, Michael and Carole, were cashing in on their royal connections to get special treatment. Harry had apparently already voiced concern about Kate’s sister Pippa Middleton publishing a book on entertaining called Celebrate in 2012, rather ironically accusing her of commercialising her links to the monarchy. The Sussexes were then upset when Pippa declined to invite them to her wedding to James Matthews in May 2017, perhaps fearing she would be upstaged by Harry’s new girlfriend. She later relented and invited them to the evening reception “to keep the peace”. According to Harry in Spare, William and Kate then took exception to the couple moving the name places at the table – before being accused of doing the same when the Sussexes got married.

Meghan hated that Will & Kate got along with Charles & Camilla? Having developed a habit of regularly exchanging letters with her father-in-law the King, parcels would arrive for Meghan in Queen Camilla’s distinctive bespoke wrapping paper, which rather runs contrary to the suggestion that they were all but abandoned by their royal relatives. While she certainly got on well with her father and mother-in-law, there was perhaps also a sense that William and Kate got on with them even better – and sometimes even gossiped about the Sussexes over dinner, as Harry suggested in Spare. Kate was also adored by the late Queen for the very reasons Scobie seeks to denigrate her in Endgame. She was “coachable”, “comfortable in her role” and “willing to bring the requisite smile and elegance to her duties as princess”.

Meghan was mad about Kate’s buttons!!!! Despite being comparatively less charismatic and an inferior public speaker, Kate was loved by the public for “never putting a foot wrong” – and carrying the mystique of someone who has never given much away about themselves. She was also a renowned clothes horse – and as a self-styled trend setter, the endless focus on her wardrobe appears to have irritated Meghan, who subsequently complained she had less help with her clothes and was forced to wear muted tones – even though she appeared in a vast array of colourful outfits.

[From The Telegraph]

Hector Projector Tominey got briefed by Kate’s people about all of the different “reasons” why Kate hated Meghan and treated Meghan like sh-t, so Tominey wrote it all up from the perspective of “this is why Meghan disliked Kate!” When even Kate’s biggest cheerleaders are basically admitting that Kate hated Meghan because Meghan was smart, well-spoken, politically progressive, well-dressed and happy, that’s not the slam dunk Kate thinks it is. The thing about Doria is so weird – why the f–k were William and Kate demanding to meet Doria, and did Meghan avoid introducing them to Doria because Meghan already knew that W&K sucked?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.