FIGHTS, LIES & JEALOUSY The truth about duchesses Kate and Meghan
Tensions mount between the Fab Four as the princes plan to walk different paths
Gingerly navigating the cobblestones outside Westminster Cathedral in pin-thin stilettos, the eight-months-pregnant Duchess of Sussex beamed as she prepared to take her place alongside Prince Harry and other senior royals at the annual Commonwealth Day service in London on March 11. Exuding elegance in a bespoke Victoria Beckham ensemble reportedly worth $33,000, Meghan did not let her tight smile waver as she greeted her sister-in-law, Kate, who also turned heads in a blood-red Catherine Walker coat she’d debuted in 2014. The duchesses exchanged pecks on the cheek, as their husbands shook hands.
Following four months of persistent reports of tension between the “Fab Four”, does the royal reunion suggest a truce in the making? With the birth of Meghan and Harry’s first child mere weeks away, and their imminent move from Kensington Palace, where they’d reportedly struggled to live alongside Kate, William and their three children, the smiles, albeit strained, may hint at a new way forward for the younger royals – but rumours are still rife. Two days before the Commonwealth Day service, where the Queen celebrated ideals of cooperation and support, news broke that Meghan’s aide
“There’s a pecking order” —Jo Little
Amy Pickerill will depart her role following the birth of Meghan and Harry’s baby.
“The most difficult job in the royal family is to work with Meghan’s ambitions and make them realisable,” a source told WHO in December.
The former Suits star’s drive and independence may not be the best fit with royal protocol which demands she always tail Kate at official engagements. “There’s a pecking order,” explains Majesty magazine managing editor Jo Little. “No slight intended, but William being the older, more senior brother would go out [first] with his wife.”
Such was the case at Westminster Abbey – the second public engagement in a week for Meghan, Harry, Kate and William, who attended a reception to honour Prince Charles on March 5 (where Meghan was also obliged to keep behind her sister-in-law). Despite the couples’ joint appearances within days of each other, speculation lingers about personality clashes and opposing agendas at Kensington Palace, which recently revamped its social-media guidelines to combat online abuse, much of it over the last few years aimed at Meghan and Kate, and between their warring supporters.
In November, Harry, 34, and Meghan, 37, announced they were moving from two-bedroom Nottingham Cottage to Windsor Castle’s Frogmore Cottage, close to the setting for their engagement photos and evening wedding party.
“There has been a bit of tension between the brothers,” a source told The Sun in November. “Now Harry and Meghan don’t want to live next to William and Kate and want to strike out on their own. They need more room and hope Frogmore Cottage will be ready in time for when they have the baby.”
Counting down to the late-april due date, Meghan is looking forward to putting “my feet up”, she said at an International Women’s Day event (where she
sat next to Julia Gillard) on March 8. “That’s a deserved treat, especially in this stage of pregnancy.” The expectant parents reportedly plan to move into their new home this month, coinciding with the end of their lease on their Cotswolds country house, their beloved weekend hideaway 160 km west of London. As a source told Vanity Fair in November, “They were considering making the Cotswolds their full-time base, then the idea of Windsor was presented to them and it seemed the perfect solution.” One that won’t come a moment too soon for the prince, as veteran royal biographer Ingrid Seward told WHO: “Harry feels very imprisoned at Kensington Palace. He can’t wait to get out.” Nestled in the sprawling grounds of the Windsor Castle estate, Frogmore Cottage was “pretty dilapidated”, said Seward, but Meghan and Harry have been overseeing renovations to the home, which had been divided into five units for palace staff. The updated residence will boast a nursery, personal gym and yoga studio for avid yogi Meghan. Despite reports that Meghan’s mum Doria Ragland will also be moving in when the spruce-up is complete, sources told WHO that Los Angeles-based Ragland will not be a live-in grandmother, though rooms may be set aside for her.
The couple’s office, however, is set to remain at Kensington Palace, despite news that, after a decade working together, William and Harry are in the process of creating separate courts. “When William becomes the Prince of Wales, he will take on a lot of extra responsibility, including the Duchy of Cornwall,” a source told The Times last month. “Harry and Meghan have none of that, and seem ambitious about forging their own paths.”
According to the Vanity Fair source, it’s Harry’s desire to step out of William’s shadow that’s driven his decision to move out of the palace, not a feud between their wives. “Kate and Meghan are very different people and they don’t have a lot in common but they have made an effort to get along,” said the source. “Any issues are between the brothers.”
“There’s a bit of tension between the brothers”