What may have made Duchess of Cambridge cry at the royal wedding
Magazine says it was a row over tights, in article that has angered Palace with claims of rift with Sussexes
BY ROYAL standards, it has been something of an ongoing mystery. What happened ahead of the royal wedding to – allegedly – make the Duchess of Cambridge cry?
Tatler, known as the bible of high society, yesterday claimed to have found the answer: a pair of children’s tights. The magazine, which details of the lives of the aristocracy and Royal family, claimed the Duchess of Cambridge and then-meghan Markle had had a “row” over whether the young bridesmaids should wear tights, in an “incident” on a “hot day”.
The story was contained in a profile piece about the Duchess entitled “Catherine the Great”, which also accused the Sussexes of leaving the Cambridges with a heavy workload after moving to Los Angeles. “Friends” had told the magazine that the Sussexes had “thrown” the Cambridge children “under a bus” by leaving the working Royal family, with the future king and queen having to pick up “enormous” responsibilities to fill the gap. Kensington Palace last night moved to rubbish the cover article and its description of the Duchess’s feelings, saying: “This story contains a swathe of inaccuracies and false misrepresentations which were not put to Kensington Palace prior to publication.” In a colourful aside within it, Tatler described an “incident” ahead of the wedding of Harry and Meghan, in which the Duchess of Cambridge is said to have been left in tears. “Then there was an incident at the wedding rehearsal,” a source named only as a “friend” told the magazine. “It was a hot day and apparently there was a row over whether the bridesmaids should wear tights or not. Kate felt that they should. Meghan didn’t want them to.” Photographs from the 2018 Sussex wedding appear to show the bridesmaids with bare legs, while those from the Cambridge wedding in 2011 show even the youngest members of the party wearing tights.
The account offers more detail of an incident which has become part of the narrative of the Royal family’s recent troubles, but has previously been reported without detail.
In November 2018, The Telegraph’s Camilla Tominey wrote that she had
“spoken to two separate sources who claim Kate was left in tears following a bridesmaids dress fitting for Princess Charlotte”.
“Kate had only just given birth to Prince Louis and was feeling quite emotional,” said one insider at the time.
The article will fuel the ongoing narrative of Duchess vs Duchess which sources earlier criticised as sexist.
In a cover story entitled “Catherine the Great: how the crisis made Kate the kingmaker”, Tatler claims to have spoken to friends and royal insiders to build a profile of her.
It claimed to reveal how the Duchess is now “working as hard as a top CEO” after the departure of the Sussexes, feeling “exhausted and trapped” by the increase in her duties.
A source last night told The Telegraph: “Like many people across the country, the Duchess is juggling home schooling and work. But she’s not also having to juggle being a front-line worker like many thousands of people across the country. She is, of course, cognisant of that. That’s who she would much prefer the attention to be on.”
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are at Anmer Hall, working from home with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, while the Sussexes are staying in Los Angeles. The Cambridges, along with the rest of the Royal family, have this year changed the focus of their work to helping the country through the virus crisis, paying particular attention to mental health.
One unnamed friend told the magazine, out in print and digital editions tomorrow: “Meghan and Harry have been so selfish. “William and Catherine really wanted to be hands-on parents and the Sussexes have effectively thrown their three children under a bus. There goes their morning school runs.”
‘The Duchess is juggling home schooling and work. But she’s not also having to juggle being a front-line worker like [other] people’