Culture

The Fractured Royal Relationship: How Meghan Markle Made Kate Middleton Cry

THAT WOULD DO IT

In the drama-filled run-up to Meghan's wedding, Kate was left in tears after an argument over bridesmaid Princess Charlotte’s dress, a new report claims.

181126-Sykes-Meghan-Kate-tease_fivrfk
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast

Even the most modest wedding has a way of making its principal actors uncharacteristically uncompromising.

So one can only imagine the pressures Meghan Markle, Prince Harry and the wider royal family found themselves under as Harry and Meghan’s wedding plans descended into chaos, unraveling as her father’s will-he-or-won't-he dramatics upended months of meticulous planning.

Now, a new report in the Daily Telegraph claims that the apparent fracturing of the relationship between Kate Middleton and Meghan can be dated back to an argument over bridesmaid dresses during the run-up to Meghan and Harry’s wedding, when Meghan made an "emotional" Kate, who had just given birth to Prince Louis days before, cry.

ADVERTISEMENT

Tension between the two princesses has been widely said to be a factor in the announcement this weekend that Harry and Meghan are moving out of the London compound, Kensington Palace, where William and Kate also live.

The Telegraph’s Camilla Tominey—a hugely respected reporter who broke the news that Harry was dating Meghan in the first place—writes in the Daily Telegraph that "froideur" between Meghan and Kate goes back to the days before Harry and Meghan’s wedding in May.

Tominey says that The Telegraph has “spoken to two separate sources who claim Kate was left in tears following a bridesmaids dress fitting for Princess Charlotte.”

Princess Charlotte, Kate and William’s daughter, had only just turned 3 at the time of the nuptials in Windsor. Along with her then-4-year-old brother George, she was one of the stars of the royal wedding.

To casual viewers it was all smiles on the big day, but it seems that behind the scenes there were violent pre-wedding disagreements.

An insider tells Tominey, “Kate had only just given birth to Prince Louis and was feeling quite emotional.”

The Telegraph says the incident happened around the time Meghan was reported to have also “upset” the queen by asking to wear an emerald tiara instead of the one offered by the 92-year-old monarch.

Royal sources have been furiously seeking to dampen down stories of a rift at the heart of the "fab four," as the young royals are known, trying to make the case that Meghan and Harry are moving to Frogmore Cottage, near Windsor, out of privacy and space concerns.