In March 2019, Buckingham Palace launched a statement where it accepted the creation of a new office for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Now, after the release of ‘Spare’ it is known that this announcement came days after the physical fight between William and Harry.
The two royal houses – the Cambridges and the Sussexes – stopped working together across the board and two separate entities were created. Since then, rumors of a bad relationship between the two couples were confirmed.
Thanks to Prince Harry’s memoirs, it is possible to put together the pieces of the puzzle and make a chronology of how the tension between the now Welsh and the Sussex grew until it led to the work rupture that was the prelude to the great family breakup.
It should be noted that Harry assures that before Meghan arrived he had a relationship with Prince William, marked by the dichotomy of who is the heir and who is the spare, there was rivalry, jealousy and institutional hierarchy.
Meghan Markle vs Kate Middleton
From the beginning Meghan and Kate were never in tune. Harry in his biography reveals that a friendship between them was never possible as Meghan expected a warm and familiar reception while Kate preferred to keep her distance.
In 2016 Prince Harry told William and Kate about his courtship with Meghan Markle, showing his excitement at the idea that they could finally form a foursome.
A week after Harry revealed his secret to his brother, Meghan traveled to the United Kingdom, that’s when she met Elizabeth II for the first time and where she mistook Prince Andrew for an aide to the sovereign.
Harry was very much looking forward to William and Meghan meeting. So he went to his brother’s house “I introduced him to Meg, who stepped forward and gave him a hug, which stunned Willy. My brother backed away. Willy didn’t hug many strangers. Whereas Meg hugged most strangers. The moment was a typical US/UK culture clash, which I found both amusing and charming,” says Harry.
It would be some time later for Meghan and Kate to meet. The Sussexes hosted a dinner party and invited the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Harry recalls that the only possible discordant note that night was the marked difference in the way the two women dressed, Meghan in ripped jeans and bare feet while. Kate looked impeccable as usual, explains the prince.
The beginning of the rivalry and the lip gloss
The next mention Harry makes about Kate in the book already moves to February 2018, when the four went together to a Royal Foundation Forum that meant for Meghan the debut in an institutional event alongside William and Kate, who was then pregnant with Prince Louis. Several things happened at that event:
- Meghan thought that the activism she had done so far could continue to do so within the Royal House and when she mentioned the ‘Me too’ movement, everyone remained silent, they knew that this was an area where the monarchy did not interfere.
- That same day, a lack of harmony began between Kate and Meghan, according to Harry Kate realized that she was going to be forced to compete with Meghan.
- Backstage Meghan asked Kate for lip gloss, the Princess of Wales did not like it and reluctantly lent it to her, Meghan applied it on her lips and according to Harry, Kate made a face of disgust.
Kate Middleton “baby brain”
That same year, months before the Sussex wedding, Meghan and Kate had a misunderstanding that would mark the total rupture of the relationship. Harry recounts that, in the middle of a conversation, his wife told Kate that she had “baby brain”, due to hormones from Prince Louis’ pregnancy. Kate was offended and Meghan was reprimanded.
Kate Middleton made Meghan Markle cry
In 2018 would continue the clashes between the wives of Prince William and Prince Harry in the days before the Sussex wedding, Kate made Meghan cry over a problem with the bridesmaids’ dresses, among which was Princess Charlotte.
Kate wrote to Meghan exposing her daughter’s dress situation. However, it took Meghan several hours to reply that the tailor was waiting for them to make the arrangements.
The Princess of Wales stressed to her that her daughter’s dress was too big, long and baggy and that Charlotte cried when she put it on, Meghan again replied that she had already told her that the tailor had been since eight o’clock tomorrow morning doing the alterations for the other bridesmaids.
According to Harry, his sister-in-law replied flatly that they should make the dresses again. Meghan asked Kate if she was aware of what was going on right now with her father. Kate said yes she was aware of the situation, but that the wedding was only four days away and the dresses were not ready.
Prince Harry wrote in his book that after that discussion he found his wife on the floor “sobbing.” For the Duke of Sussex it was all a misunderstanding and he assured that, the morning after those messages, Kate brought flowers to Meghan and apologized.
Prince William vs Prince Harry
In February 2019, Daily Mail published the famous letter Meghan sent her father, Thomas Markle. Prince Harry says that he contacted his father and brother as both had sued the press in the past for invasions of privacy and slander referring to the Charles III scandal, about some letters he wrote to members of the Government and that for many supposed an overreach in their functions as then princes of Wales. For his part, William sued the press for publishing topless images of Kate. Harry claims that both Charles and William objected to him and Meghan taking legal action.
The problem with the letter the letter and the intentions to sue the press is the passage Harry narrates just before revealing the now famous fight with his brother William.
The Prince of Wales wanted to talk to his brother about the problems that Meghan was generating in the royal family. That talk, which began with a conversation in the kitchen at Nottigham Cottage ended with Harry on the floor and the dog bowl stuck in his back. William reportedly claimed that Meghan was difficult, rude and abrasive and had antagonized the entire staff. Harry did not relent and asked her to reconsider her stance and eventually his older brother physically attacked him.
The separation of the Cambridge and Sussex
In the month of March came the separation announcement signed by the Queen. William and Kate retained their office at Kensington Palace, while Harry and Meghan would create a new team with Sara Latham at the helm at Buckingham Palace. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex wanted to start from scratch with a new communication strategy that was based on disengaging from the Royal Rota, a system of accreditation that gives access only to certain media to the information, events and trips of the royals.
Months later Harry asked his grandmother for a “time out,” the Duke and Duchess of Sussex settled for six weeks in Canada, a period that included Christmas 2019. By January 2020 they had signaled their intention to leave and in March of that same year came the historic breakup that to this day continues to generate headlines thanks to the publication of their memoir ‘Spare’ and the Netflix documentary ‘Harry and Meghan’.
