We know Meghan Markle is persona non grata in the Royal family these days, but was this always the case? During Prince Harry and the former actress’ courtship, and the early part of their marriage, it certainly looked like the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were set to be senior Royals for their remainder of their lifetimes. Then, of course, things deteriorated so badly that the couple had to put an entire ocean between themselves and Harry’s relatives.
According to Harry himself, the Royals actually thought favorably towards Meghan at first — almost too favorably. As the prince revealed in the duo’s Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, his family initially thought that his future wife was far too “beautiful and intelligent” to ever settle down with him so at first they didn’t put too much stock in their relationship. It was when the pair did indeed tie the knot and this woman they never expected to join the family was suddenly one of them that the problems started happening.
The writing was already on the wall, however, during Meghan’s awkward first meeting with future feuding in-laws, Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Meghan Markle broke Royal family formality in an instant when she first encountered William and Kate
Like Harry spilled the Royal tea on Meghan’s first meeting with his wider family to Netflix, Meghan opened up about her first time meeting William and Kate during the couple’s infamous interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.
Much to the consternation of both Royal lovers and the Royals themselves, Harry and Meghan memorably spent that interview painting a picture of the two of them as being unfairly ostracized by the Windsors from day one. To illustrate this, Meghan at one point reflected on her memory of meeting the Prince and Princess of Wales for the first time, at which point it was immediately obvious that her easygoing American ways were going to present a problem.
“Even when Will and Kate came over and I was meeting her for the first time I remember I was in ripped jeans, I was barefoot. Like I was a hugger, I have always been a hugger I didn’t realize that is really jarring for a lot of Brits,” Meghan recalled to Winfrey, about how the all-important meeting went off the rails from the start.
The duchess continued by revealing that this is the moment when she realized the elaborate formality that the Royal family presents to the public doesn’t simply vanish behind closed doors and is a full-time, never-ending way of life.
“I started to understand that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside, that there is a forward-facing way of being and then you close the door and think ‘OK we can relax now.’ But that formality carries over on both sides and that was surprising to me,” Markle admitted.
This is Meghan’s memory of the incident, anyway. Kate herself is known to have been offended by Meghan’s depiction of her in the Ophah interview, with insider sources declaring she found her claims to be nothing more than “lies.”
In her brother, James Middleton’s autobiography, he outlines a similar incident when Kate first met his future wife, Alizée Thevenet. This occurred when she and William turned up for a visit with their children — and Thevenet wandered into the room wearing nothing but one of James’ shirts! In contrast to Meghan’s much less salacious encounter, Kate is said to have been completely unfazed by Thevenet’s state of undress. When the meeting was over, the princess is noted to have whispered in her brother’s ear: “She’s great!”
Double standards or an understandable difference in context — after all, Meghan had the added pressure of joining the Royal family, unlike her brother’s partner? That’s up for debate, but it’s clear that, rightly or wrongly, Meghan’s outsider status put her at a disadvantage from the beginning.
Published: Oct 14, 2024 01:58 pm