Prince William was too ‘awkward’ to handle sister-in-law Meghan Markle ‘hugging and kissing’ him all the time

By now, we know all too well that Meghan Markle never fit in with the Royal Family, which is a big reason why she and Prince Harry went and upped sticks to the States back in 2020. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have made no secret of how they felt ostracized and unwelcomed by Harry’s relatives, and then of course endless reports from supposed insiders have claimed that Meghan was the one to blame.

Without villainizing either side, the truth is likely that Meghan was just too different from the Royals to be one of them for the long term. How so? How about the new info that claims she was so “touchy-feely” with her brother-in-law Prince William that not only did Meghan make the “awkward” future king feel uncomfortable, she even unintentionally started rumors she was trying to level up to Harry’s older brother…

William/Harry split wasn’t helped by Meghan being so touchy-feely with Wills she started “flirting” rumors

New book Yes Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants alleges that one contributing factor to the William/Harry feud which isn’t talked about much concerns how put off the Prince of Wales was by Meghan’s “warm, friendly, hug-everyone approach.” While this was just how Markle was, it was apparently so different from how things were done in the Palace that rumors began swirling that she was “flirting” with William!

As per the book (via The Times), William and Kate Middleton found Meghan “delightful” when she and Harry first started dating, but “tensions” soon developed once she started getting very touchy-feely with them anytime they met.

“Kate, William, and Charles tended to flinch when she moved in for a hug. Meghan was understandably hurt, as everyone apparently hugs everyone in California,” claims an ex-Royal staffer. Meghan’s hugs caused the most consternation for William, it seems, as he both didn’t appreciate his sister-in-law’s unwanted familiarity with him and also the way it would cause the staff to gossip.

“Meghan hugged him virtually every time they bumped into each other,” the staffer continued. “The hugging and cheek-kissing fuelled gossip among the staff that Meghan was flirting with William, which she was obviously not, but the tense atmosphere caused by all the touchy-feeliness (and the resultant gossip) deepened the rift between the brothers.”

The staffer explains that the “awkward” and “inhibited” William and the more care-free Meghan were simply too different to ever become close: “In fact, William’s rather awkward, even inhibited personality — an inheritance from his father — was baffling for the more spontaneous Meghan.”

All of this is hardly a surprise as both Harry and Meghan have shared their own perspective on how Meghan’s very Californian ways ruffled Royal feathers. In his own book, Spare, Harry recalled how William “recoiled” from Meghan’s hug when they first met, describing the cringe-inducing moment as a “classic collision of cultures.”

Meanwhile, Meghan spoke on the same issue in the couple’s 2022 Netflix docuseries. “Like I was a hugger, I have always been a hugger I didn’t realize that is really jarring for a lot of Brits,” the duchess admitted. “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.”

At least we know that, while Royal staff might’ve gossiped, neither Harry nor Kate really had anything to worry about on this front as William and Meghan are the least likely pair of Royals to have an affair. The Royal Family has done some extremely weird things, but anything going on between these natural enemies would be the weirdest.