At one point, reports surrounding the so-called royal rift between the then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Duke and Duchess of Sussex were centred around Kate, Princess of Wales, and Meghan Markle. Many believed that the two women simply did not see eye-to-eye, leading to tension building up between their husbands — Prince William and Prince Harry. When a report of an argument between Kate and Meghan came to light, the war between the women was quickly pointed out as the catalyst for a fractured Royal Family.
In December 2018, it was reported that the Duchess of Sussex had made Kate cry ahead of the former’s wedding. It was said that a “stressful dress fitting” led to an altercation between the two women.
According to the reports at the time, Kate said her daughter’s bridesmaid dress was “too baggy” and allegedly insisted that it was remade. The pair are also thought to have had a disagreement over whether the flower girls should wear tights or not, with the then-Duchess of Cambridge insisting it was royal protocol to do so.
But in March 2021, Meghan told Oprah Winfrey that it was actually “the reverse,” that the Princess of Wales had been the one to make her cry.
Most recently, the Duke of Sussex has lifted the lid on his version of events, revealing Kate and Meghan’s text messages about Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress, which Kate allegedly described as “too big, too long, too baggy”.
Speaking of Spare during his 60 Minutes interview with Anderson Cooper, Harry said: “It does give a full picture of the situation as we were growing up. [It] also squashes this idea that somehow my wife was the one that destroyed the relationship between these two brothers.”
His remarks oppose the previous account of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s dramatic departure, which was widely blamed on Harry’s relationship with the American actress.
Their explosive exit was colloquially called ‘Megxit’, intrinsically — and by all accounts, inaccurately — pointing out Meghan as the instigator in their decision to step down from their royal roles and move overseas.
As it turns out, it was ultimately Harry who made the call. In the couple’s Netflix documentary series, which aired in December 2022, the Duke said: “It was my decision. She never asked to leave.”
Spare was written by Prince Harry and published by Penguin Random House in January 2023. It is available here.
