Kate and Meghan Frostiness Came Down to ‘Clash of Culture and Life,’ Expert Says: ‘They Were Very Much 2 Women Separated by a Common Language’
Why didn’t Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton get along? An expert believes it came down to “culture and life experience” for the Duchess of Sussex and Princess of Wales. Throw in the British royal family “hierarchy,” and things were poised to be “difficult” between “superior” Kate and “junior” Meghan.
Meghan met Kate after being introduced to Queen Elizabeth, King Charles, and Prince William
Kate was the last of Prince Harry’s close family members to meet Meghan. As the Duke of Sussex, 39, described in his January 2023 Spare memoir, the two met over dinner at Nottingham Cottage.
However, it wasn’t just Kate and Meghan getting to know each other over a meal. Also there were Harry and his brother, Prince William.
Meghan had already met William quickly at Kensington Palace’s Apartment 1A. Prior to that, she’d met the now-King Charles III and Queen Camilla over tea, as well as a surprise introduction to the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The introductions all went well enough; however, Harry did notice a possibly “discordant” note. He observed a “marked difference” between his now-wife and sister-in-law in the way they dressed: casual and formal.
Kate and Meghan had a ‘clash of culture’ as senior royals
While Kate had nearly a decade to ease into the ways of royal life, Meghan, as the now-42-year-old described in her and Harry’s 2017 engagement interview, “hit the ground running.”
As such, royal expert Jennie Bond told OK! Meghan likely wasn’t prepared for all the ins and outs of royal life. “I think there was a clash of culture and life experience between Kate and Meghan,” she told the outlet.
“To hug or not, to over-share or not, to dominate proceedings or take your turn, to be immersed in family life or immersed in a Hollywood career. I think they were very much two women separated by a common language,” Bond said.
Meghan officially became British royalty upon marrying Harry in May 2018. Prior to becoming a full-time working royal, Meghan had become a successful actor most known for starring in the USA legal drama Suits, which had William and Kate as fans.
As later revealed, Meghan didn’t know that the formalities of royal life continued in private. Sarah Ferguson gave her an impromptu curtsy lesson before meeting the queen at the Royal Lodge. Walkabouts were also a foreign concept.
Meghan likely found Kate’s ‘senior’ royal family status ‘very hard to swallow’
To add to the friction, which Harry shared in Spare might’ve originated with Meghan declining Kate’s offer to share fashion contacts,” was the line of succession. As in, Harry’s place as “spare” to Prince William’s “heir,” automatically making Kate “superior” to Meghan.
“I suspect Meghan found Kate’s senior position, with all the protocol that entails, very hard to swallow,” Bond said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that Meghan found it very difficult to be a junior member of a team.”
Today, Harry is fifth in the line of succession. In front of him is William and his three children: Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5.
“It’s understandable because she was a confident, independent, outspoken feminist with her own career when she joined the royal family,” the expert said of Meghan.
“It must have been curious to have to learn to take her place in [the] order of precedence. And know that she was never going to be the chief executive of the Firm,” Bond explained. “Nor even the managing director … just a senior member, who could have been very valued and highly effective.”
“There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But it simply is not a recipe for successfully joining a family firm which has a clearly defined hierarchy,” she concluded.
