KATE:WE ROLLED OUT RED CARPET FOR HER
As devastating biography says William ‘behaved like snob’ over Harry and Meghan, frustrated Cambridges hit back
THE Duke and Duchess of Cambridge last night hit back at claims in an explosive new biography that they actively spurned Meghan Markle.
Authors of Finding Freedom claim relations between the Sussexes and Cambridges – once heralded as the Fab Four – soured to the point where William and Kate barely uttered a word to Harry and Meghan at their final public appearance as working Royals.
But close friends of William and Kate issued a fierce defence, insisting the couple had ‘rolled out the red carpet’ for Meghan and ‘done all they possibly could’ to welcome the US actress into the Royal Family.
According to the friends, the Cambridges ‘welcomed Meghan with open arms’ by inviting her to Anmer Hall, their family home in Norfolk, where Kate personally cooked vegan meals for her brother-in-law’s then fiancee.
William and Kate also invited Meghan’s friends, bridesmaids and page boys to a party before her wedding to Harry in May
2018, and keen tennis fan Kate asked Meghan to join her in the Royal Box at Wimbledon for two successive years.
‘It’s just completely wrong to suggest they didn’t talk and plain wrong to say the Cambridges weren’t welcoming,’ a friend told The Mail on Sunday. ‘How can you say they weren’t warm or welcoming when they hosted Meghan for Christmas, invited her into their totally private inner sanctum at Anmer Hall and did everything they could to make her feel at home? They personally cooked her favourite vegan food. They couldn’t have been more welcoming.’
However, the friend admitted that Kate had snubbed Meghan at the Commonwealth service at Westminster Abbey in March, saying it was an uncharacteristic move born ‘out of sheer frustration’ at the Sussexes’ behaviour over their withdrawal from Royal life, announced on Instagram, and the launch of the Sussex Royal website.
The source acknowledged that Kate ignored Meghan at the West Door of Westminster Abbey, but added: ‘That was after the Sussexes had issued that incendiary statement and website.’
Last night, as fresh revelations in Finding Freedom – which is being serialised by The Times and Sunday Times – threatened to plunge the Royal Family back into the darkest days of the bitter ‘Megxit’ saga, it was claimed that:
● Prince Harry was ‘p **** d off’ with ‘snob’ William as he was warned to take things slowly with ‘this girl’ Meghan;
● William also questioned Meghan’s intentions and feared that Harry was being ‘blindsided by lust’;
● A senior Royal referred to
Meghan as ‘Harry’s showgirl’ when they were dating, while another observed that she ‘comes with a lot of baggage’;
● A high-ranking courtier was overheard telling a colleague: ‘There’s just something about her I don’t trust’;
● Meghan felt her treatment by some Palace staff was ‘sexist and prejudiced’ and that, as a ‘successful woman of colour’, she was labelled ‘demanding’;
● A gap developed between the two Royal wives because they were ‘not the best of friends’ and Meghan was ‘disappointed that she and Kate hadn’t bonded over the unique position they shared’;
● Meghan was infuriated by persistent media reports – confirmed by Palace aides – that a bust-up during a bridesmaid dress fitting for Princess Charlotte had left Kate in tears;
● Harry and Meghan became so frustrated at what they perceived as an unwillingness to discuss their future that they considered breaching protocol to arrive unannounced to confront the Queen;
● The couple were upset when the Queen did not include a photograph of them and Archie on her desk when she filmed her Christmas speech last year;
● Meghan considered the decision to strip Harry of his military patronages as part of the so-called ‘Megxit’ deal – painfully thrashed out after a summit at Sandringham on January 13 – to be ‘unnecessary’.
● The Sussexes became deeply suspicious of rival Royal camps and described some senior officials as ‘the vipers’;
● The couple became secretly engaged on a trip to southern Africa in August 2017.
Friends of the Cambridges dismissed claims in the book that Kate and Meghan ‘barely exchanged a word’ at the King Power Royal Charity Polo Day last July.
In what was intended as a public show of solidarity, Harry was cheered on the polo field by Meghan and baby Archie, and William by Kate and their three children – George, Charlotte and Louis, now seven, five and two respectively.
‘Everyone saw Kate and Meghan chatting. She [Meghan] had the baby and it was really sweet,’ one pal insisted. ‘George went up to Archie and gently stroked his head. Louis was larking around and making Meghan laugh – it was really positive and happy.’
However, allies of the Cambridges accept that the onceclose relationship between the brothers is now ‘strained’ and best described as ‘on and off’.
They said William had been left ‘sad’ and ‘disappointed’ by the claims in Finding Freedom. ‘William had hoped that everyone had moved on, but clearly that’s not the case,’ said a friend. ‘He’s a little sad and disappointed that it’s being raked up all over again.
‘He was extremely upset and hurt at the time [in January when Harry stood down from his duties] and his relationship with his brother is still quite distant.
‘It’s best described as on-off and more off at the moment.
He has no plans to see his brother this year, but of course Covid makes that much more difficult [anyway].’
While the Sussexes and the authors of Finding Freedom insist that the couple gave no interviews for the book, it paints an extremely flattering portrayal of them.
The Sunday Times last night claimed that the book ‘had been written with the Sussexes’ close collaboration and blessing [and] the couple are thought to have personally authorised sources to speak to the authors’ – something that has been denied by the Sussexes.
In extracts that emerged yesterday, the book’s authors suggest that the three Royal households of Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace and Clarence House were in competition, each trying to outdo – and even occasionally sabotage – the other.
Meghan and Harry, according to Finding Freedom, became increasingly frustrated at the Palace communications operation. However, one former staff member told The Mail on Sunday: ‘It was a very challenging working environment. It was high pressure and extremely stressful… Nothing was ever good enough, they always saw the negative in everything.
‘Nothing is ever their fault, always someone else’s. They are professional victims.’
A spokesman for Harry and Meghan said: ‘The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were not interviewed and did not contribute to Finding Freedom.
‘This book is based on the authors’ own experiences as members of the Royal press corps and their own independent reporting.’
Duchess thought staff were racist and sexist
‘The Sussexes are professional victims’