Prince Harry has revealed that Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton shared a brutally awkward moment in public during one of his wife’s first royal appearances.
The Duke of Sussex reveals in his new memoir, Spare, that Meghan and Kate were stood on the balcony at Buckingham Palace watching Trooping the Colour – the celebration of the Queen’s official birthday – in 2018 when the cringeworthy moment played out.
Harry writes that Kate turned to Meghan and asked her what she thought of her first Trooping the Colour.
Meghan quipped back: “Colourful.”
The joke bombed, with Harry saying that “a yawning silence threatened to swallow us all whole”.
Pictures from the day show an animated Meghan and Kate chit-chatting away, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex appearing to be deep in conversation.
It’s just one of a number of challenging moments Kate and Meghan have shared as sisters-in-law, if Harry’s new book is anything to go by.
An explosive text message exchange between the pair was revealed amid their feud over bridesmaids’ dresses at Meghan and Harry’s wedding.
The Duke of Sussex, 38, writes that Kate texted Meghan the week of their May 2018 wedding about a “problem” with daughter Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid outfit.
“The French haute couture dresses had been hand-sewn based solely on [the bridesmaids’] measurements, so it was not surprising that they needed alterations,” Harry explained of the dresses, which were custom-made by Givenchy’s then-creative director Clare Waight Keller, who also created Meghan’s wedding dress.
“Meg didn’t reply to Kate straight away. Yes, she had endless wedding-related texts, but mostly she was dealing with the chaos surrounding her father. So the next morning she texted Kate that our tailor was standing by,” Harry wrote.
Meghan added that the tailor’s name was “Ajay” and he was “at the Palace”.
But “this wasn’t sufficient”, claims Harry.
He explained that Kate wrote back, complaining: “Charlotte’s dress is too big, too long, too baggy. She cried when she tried it on at home.”
According to Harry, Meghan replied: “Right, and I told you the tailor has been standing by since 8am. Here. At KP. Can you take Charlotte to have it altered, as the other mums are doing?”
At that point, Harry claimed, Kate rejected the offer, demanding that “all the dresses need to be remade,” and that her own wedding dress designer, Sarah Burton, had agreed with her.
“Meg asked if Kate was aware of what was going on right now. With her father. Kate said she was well aware, but the dresses. And the wedding is in four days!” Harry wrote, to which his wife reportedly replied sharply: “Yes, Kate, I know.”
According to Harry, Kate also expressed “problems with the way Meg was planning her wedding. Something about a party for the page boys? It went back and forth.”
Harry went on to explain that his wife eventually replied to Kate with: “I’m not sure what else to say. If the dress doesn’t fit, then please take Charlotte to see Ajay. He’s been waiting all day.”
“Fine,” he says Kate responded.
In his memoir, Harry says that while he came home to find Meghan “on the floor sobbing”, he hadn’t considered Kate’s behaviour to be malicious, telling his fiance that she “hadn’t meant any harm”.
The latest revelations about Meghan and Kate’s feud comes after Harry unleashed on his brother and sister-in-law in a fiery interview with British journalist Tom Bradby on the UK’s ITV network.
He claimed the pair iced out his wife from the very beginning, due to “stereotyping”, based on the fact she was an “American actress”, “divorced” and “bi-racial”.
“I don’t think they were ever expecting me to get into a relationship with someone like Meghan, who had a successful career,” he told Bradby.
Harry also claimed that the competition of “Meghan vs Kate” developed “very quickly”.
“You can’t hide from that, especially within my family, newspapers are laid out in every single palace house that is around.
“So, yes, it does create this competition and if you’re the new kid on the block stealing the limelight. Not a limelight you’ve asked to be put in. The British press have decided it for you because it sells newspapers.”