Meghan and Kate
Meghan seeks an escape from scrutiny, while Kate seems to have hit her stride
Riding in the back seat with Queen Elizabeth on the way to Crathie church near Balmoral Castle on August 25, Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton wore a navy coat over her Michael Kors shirt dress – and a beaming smile. With Prince William seated in the front seat of their limo, the couple – along with their three children, Prince George, 6, Princess Charlotte, 4, and Prince Louis, 1
– were keeping up the royal tradition of seeing out summer at the family’s 93-yearold monarch’s summer estate in Scotland. Missing from this year’s gathering were Prince Harry and Meghan Markle who, aside from adjusting to life as new parents to 4-month-old son Archie, were coping with full schedules and increasing media scrutiny. Meghan (dubbed ‘Duchess Difficult’ by the UK press) and Harry have copped flak for their expensive taxpayer-funded renovations to Frogmore Cottage, as well as their decision to keep Archie mostly out of the public eye. More recently, the couple has been accused of hypocrisy for talking up the importance of conservation while taking four private jet flights in 11 days for family holidays to Nice, France and Ibiza, Spain, in August, which Harry, 34, explained away on September 3 as “a unique circumstance to ensure that my family is safe”.
Compounding the criticism was the fact that on August 22, William and Kate were snapped flying from Norwich, England, to Aberdeen, Scotland, on a Flybe partner aircraft. “It was amazing how
they did it – they must have slipped on quietly, after people were already seated,” said a fellow passenger. “I couldn’t believe my eyes. You don’t expect to see royalty on a budget airliner.”
A source told Page Six that Meghan’s last-minute decision to take a commercial flight on September 6 to see her friend Serena Williams play in the US Open tennis final in New York was in part an attempt at “image damage control”. Keen to correct what was labelled as her ‘diva-like’ behaviour while supporting Williams at Wimbledon in July, this time she came “with at least two police protection officers”, the source said, “but they won’t be able to stop gawkers from taking photos.” While in New York, Meghan, 38, also took the opportunity to step outside her royal bubble. Hours after landing, she slipped into a packed public yoga class of up to 60 people in the West Village. “There were lots of sweet, knowing smiles” among the respectful patrons, a source tells WHO. “It was the perfect remedy for jet lag.” And, perhaps, the perfect remedy for a stressful few months. Kate, 37, meanwhile,
seems to have hit her stride. The day before Meghan took off for her whirlwind weekend away – leaving Archie in the care of Harry at Windsor – Kate and William, 37, put on a united front to take Princess Charlotte to her first day of school at Thomas’s Battersea in London. Wearing a Michael Kors floral printed dress – the same she wore to Meghan and Harry’s rehearsal dinner – she clutched her daughter’s hand and took her to her classroom. The young royal’s 21 classmates will know her as Charlotte Cambridge, navigating a path that allows her and her siblings to grow up as normally as possible while also preparing them for their future royal roles.
“George is more reserved, and Charlotte is more outgoing. Maybe it’s because he’s the heir and one day he might be king,” an insider tells WHO. “It’s the same difference between William and Harry – Harry is much more laid-back and William is the more serious one because he will be king one day.”
When their wives first met, “there was undue pressure where the whole world wanted them to be best friends”, another insider told WHO in July. Now that they’re figuring out their distinct roles and how they differ, “there is a sense of [Meghan and Kate’s] relationship strengthening”. Leaning into their differences, adds longtime royal author Robert Lacey, could be a good thing in the long run. “Coming from different backgrounds,” he notes, “they have more the makings of a team than people imagined.” •