Before he left his royal duties behind, Prince Harry once shared an incredibly close bond with Kate Middleton and fondly described her as ‘the big sister I never had’.
So when he fell head over heels for former Suits star Meghan Markle in the summer of 2016, it was unsurprising that Harry, now 41, was eager to introduce Kate to his new American beau.
Yet Kate repeatedly ‘side-stepped’ Prince William and Harry’s efforts to introduce her to Meghan, now 44, according to royal author Christopher Andersen.
Her ‘initial reluctance’ did, however, ‘come from a good place,’ claimed a close friend of the then-Duchess of Cambridge, who first met Kate while they were both students at Marlborough College.
‘She’s always been a substitute big sister to Harry, watching out for him and making certain no one takes advantage. I think she was a little frightened by what she was reading,’ the friend allegedly explained.
The princess’s reservations were perhaps due to her husbands alleged doubts and apprehension about his brother’s whirlwind romance, the royal author added.
‘William worried aloud that things were moving too fast. Meghan had secured a degree of control over his brother that no other woman ever had,’ wrote Mr Andersen in his book, Brothers And Wives.
‘Harry was on the defensive whenever the subject of Meghan came up, leaving friends and family alike on tenterhooks,’ he added.
Indeed, according to the royal author, the prince once became so enraged when he learnt that one of his long-time Eton friends had made a ‘crude’ joke about Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, that he ‘cut him off for good’.
‘Not even his closest friends were immune from Harry’s wrath when it came to Meghan,’ noted the royal author.
initial resistance at meeting the woman who had captured Harry’s heart did not last long. On January 10, 2017, Harry took Meghan to the Cambridge’s Kensington Palace residence at Apartment 1A to meet Kate.
Any initial anxieties or concerns about their blossoming romance was seemingly put to one side, as the princess was said to have warmly embraced Meghan with a hug when they arrived at the four-bedroom property.
Meghan, meanwhile, was keen to make a good first impression – and surprised Kate with a $295 Smythson Portobello notebook as a belated birthday gift, while also taking the time to play with then one-year-old Princess Charlotte.
While it lasted less than an hour, the informal meeting between the two women was said to have been a resounding success on all accounts.
Indeed, when Harry and Meghan prepared to leave the royal apartment, Kate allegedly told the actress that she could contact her if she ever needed ‘anything at all’, according to Mr Andersen.
‘If anyone could offer sound advice on how to navigate the treacherous waters of the monarchy, it was the ever-patient, transcendentally calm’ Kate, Mr Andersen added.
Meghan, who had been anxiously anticipating meeting Harry’s sister-in-law, later admitted that she felt a ‘sense of profound relief’ that Kate and William had welcomed her with open arms.
When Harry got down on one knee and asked Meghan to marry him in the gardens of Kensington Palace’s Nottingham Cottage on November 4, 2017, the then-Duke and Duchess expressed their joy at the news of an upcoming royal wedding.
In a statement released by the couple at the time, Kate and William declared that it had been ‘wonderful getting to know Meghan and to see how happy she and Harry are together’.
At the time, the fond feelings between the so-called ‘Fab Four’ appeared mutual.
Indeed, when the newly-engaged couple sat down with the BBC’s Mishal Husain at Kensington Palace to discuss their engagement, Meghan spoke highly of Kate and William and their budding relationship as she prepared for life in the royal fold.
Harry explained that his brother and sister-in-law had been ‘longing to meet Meghan’ and that their first introductions had gone without a hitch.
Meghan then chimed in to describe her soon-to-be sister-in-law as ‘wonderful’ before Harry added that Kate had been ‘amazing’.
‘As has William as well, you know, fantastic support,’ the prince added.
On January 10, 2017, Harry took Meghan to the Cambridge’s Kensington Palace residence at Apartment 1A to meet Kate. The informal meeting was said to have gone resoundingly well
But, behind the scenes, Kate and William’s true feelings towards the Firm’s newest member were seemingly less cheery – with William in particular said to have had growing concerns about Harry’s new fiancée.
According to royal biographer Phil Dampier, the future King ‘saw right through’ Meghan’s plans to marry the British bachelor prince, and also feared that she had zero plans of remaining in the Firm for the long haul.
Meanwhile, in Harry’s explosive memoir Spare, the prince revealed that William had attempted to caution him about the pace of his relationship with Meghan prior to their nuptials.
Sharing that William had ‘actually been pretty discouraging about me even dating Meg,’ Harry claimed that his brother had told him their relationship was ‘too fast’.
Relations between Meghan and Kate also allegedly became frosty in the build-up to the royal wedding – with Harry detailing in Spare how the two women disagreed over borrowed lip-gloss before the first Royal Foundation forum summit in February 2018.
Reports at the time suggested that the pair clashed during a bridesmaid fitting for Princess Charlotte in the build-up to Harry and Meghan’s big day.
But while it was initially claimed that Meghan had made Kate cry during the heated row, the Duchess later refuted this during her and Harry’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.
During the tell-all interview, Meghan claimed that it was the other way around and added: ‘She [Kate] was upset about something, but she owned it, and she apologised. And she brought me flowers.’
In Spare, Harry also detailed how Kate and Meghan got into a heated conversation over tea and biscuits at Kensington Palace in June 2018, just one month after the Sussexes wed at Windsor’s St George’s Chapel.
During the meeting, Meghan was said to have raised the question of their relationship and tensions going back to when she started dating Harry.
The former Suits star was said to have suggested that there had been crossed wires when Kate thought Meghan wanted to use her connections in the fashion industry, when in fact she already had her own.
Harry then claimed that Kate became upset and demanded an apology from Meghan for offending her when she mentioned her hormones after giving birth and suggested it had affected her memory.
Meghan initially said she couldn’t remember but then added: ‘I remember: you had forgotten something and I said that it didn’t matter, that it was because of pregnancy. Because you just had a child. Because of the hormones.’
Harry said Kate replied: ‘We are not close enough for you to talk about my hormones.’
The conflict then escalated, with William alleged to have called Meghan ‘rude’ and ‘pointed a finger at her’ before stating: ‘These things are not done here.’
In response, Meghan was said to have then told William: ‘If you don’t mind, keep your finger out of my face.’
Defending his wife, Harry wrote: ‘Meg said that she had never intentionally done anything to offend Kate and that if she had, she begged her to let her know so she could avoid a reoccurrence.’
The detailed information about the heated fight between the women is the fullest account yet about how the bitter brotherly feud extended to their wives.
