It’s a royal knockout Are the young couples trying to outdo each other?
Friends or equals? As Meghan and Harry take Britain by storm, Matthew Bell asks if Kate and William can handle the competition
The murmurings began in earnest at Christmas. When 7.6 million people tuned in to watch the Queen’s speech, a subliminal message was also being aired, it seems. As the camera panned round the 1844 room, we got a glimpse of the framed photos jostling for position on Her Majesty’s desk. There was the Queen with Prince Philip, Prince Charles with the Duchess of Cornwall, and Prince Harry with Meghan Markle, in a newly engaged clinch. But where were the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge? Prince George and Princess Charlotte were at the forefront, but there is always a romantic snap of the couple. This year… none. The message was clear – the Cambridges are yesterday’s news! Long live the Markles!
Well, perhaps not quite, but some read it as such. The Queen, after all, had already rewritten protocol by inviting Meghan to Sandringham for Christmas – a favour she did not bestow upon Kate until after she had walked up the aisle. If it is a stretch to suggest Her Majesty would pick favourites, it seems reasonable to assume Harry’s engagement – and the ensuing Meghan mania – may have ruffled royal feathers at Kensington.
This phase of the Cambridges’ life was supposed to be about ramping up their profile in preparation for a bigger public role. An announcement last year made clear their intentions: they would relocate from Norfolk to London and “increase their official work on behalf of the Queen”. Prince William gave up his career as a helicopter pilot and they waved farewell to the peace of Anmer Hall. What blissful years they had been – though some had begun to speculate William was enjoying them a little too much. In 2016, he clocked up just 204 engagements, less than a third of Princess Anne’s 640.
Autumn 2017 was the start of the big push. September saw the happy news they were expecting their third baby. And then, in November, came Harry’s engagement. The Duchess is due in April. The royal wedding is in May. Just as Kate is battling morning sickness and swollen ankles, the last thing she needs is a media natural sashaying into her limelight. Even if Kate doesn’t consider Meghan a rival, she knows that from now on, every outfit she chooses will not only be pored over (as usual), but compared with her soon-to-be sister-in-law, too.
Bubbling tensions were alluded to this week, when it transpired both couples would be out and about on the same day, the first time since standing shoulder-to-shoulder at Sandringham. A Kensington Palace spokesman said that, inevitably, they will carry out duties on the same day. Still, it was a point they felt needed to be made.
Come Thursday, however, there was only one Royal couple shaking hands. Harry and Meghan went to Cardiff as planned, but in a last-minute swerve, William visited the Evelina Children’s Hospital alone; his new shaven haircut ensuring column inches focused on the absence atop his head, rather than the one by his side.
Side-by-side comparisons of the two have become a growing PR headache for the Cambridges. As the past two months have shown, that is not a game they can easily win. As Harry and Meghan are lauded for injecting glamour into the Royal family, and embodying a positive wider message of modernity, the Cambridges look, well, not quite so ritzy. All this is normal – at home, they are ankle-deep in nappies; in public, the future of the monarchy rests with them. Now, if ever, is the time to settle down. And yet, who wants to be the sensible grown-ups when you were once the it couple? Probably not Kate. The thing to remember about the Duchess of Cambridge is that she is competitive. At school she was athletic and in the first teams for hockey and netball. To put it bluntly, she is used to winning. Until Meghan, Kate had no rivals – Harry’s girlfriends came and went but none stayed long enough to pose competition.
For a time, of course, there was Pippa. Her sister almost managed to upstage her at her own wedding, but since marrying James Matthews last year – and Markle turning up – Pippa has slipped off the radar; just another socialite cycling around Fulham.
With Meghan it’s different. In no time at all she has become part of the family, fast-tracked into situations that Kate waited 10 years to achieve, from meeting the Queen, to appearing alongside her in public. And what’s more, she’s good at it – a fully trained actress who is a natural on camera, and knows how to work a crowd. Royal photographers noted Kate appeared more “animated” than usual this week: dancing at Coventry University on Tuesday; bear-hugging children at a primary school in Mitcham on Wednesday.
The game-raising ripple effect of a new royal has its precedents. In 1986, when Prince Andrew announced his engagement to Sarah Ferguson, the country’s head was turned by the new royal bride. In 1987, Vanity Fair said: “In the year since her wedding, the rambunctious redheaded Duchess of York has charmed the Queen, captivated Prince Philip, and romped away with the hearts of the British public. Her angst-free antics have highlighted the mounting pressures on the Princess of Wales.”
In truth, Diana welcomed Fergie as an ally against The Firm but their rivalry was inflamed when a spokesman, extraordinarily, pointed out their differences: “The princess and duchess are friends, not equals.”
If Diana competed with anyone for column inches, it was her husband. Prince Charles couldn’t cope with being eclipsed by his wife; a rivalry that played out through the media as their marriage soured. When Charles gave that infamous interview in 1994, admitting adultery, Diana retaliated with her own more explosive exposé.
Even the Queen has, at times, been threatened with being overshadowed by a bothersome lesser royal. Her uncle, the Duke of Windsor, obliged to abdicate after marrying a divorcee, made repeated attempts to return to Britain. But there was only room for one monarch, and the Windsors were not invited to the Coronation.
In many ways, times have happily changed, and Markle, a divorcee, is able to enjoy the high-watt glow of a royal romance, fully endorsed by the Queen. But as that courtier of the Eighties said, she and Kate might be friends, but not equals.
The Duchess of Cambridge may want to remind herself of that in the coming months, if all this Meghan mania gets a bit much.