Why Princess Kate Was “Uninterested” in Forming a Close Bond With Duchess Meghan

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Today’s two most famous royal women have never had a particularly warm relationship with each other. In new book Endgame, Bazaar royal editor-at-large Omid Scobie reports on the “cold” dynamic between Catherine, Princess of Wales, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

When Meghan wed Prince Harry in 2018, she initially longed to find a friend in Kate, who could possibly relate to her struggles as an outsider marrying into the British royal family. However, Kate was “uninterested” in developing a close friendship with the duchess.

“For Meghan, who found much of her time as a working royal a lonely and isolated experience, there was a hope that Kate would be someone she could at least turn to for an encouraging word during her lowest points, including her emotional difficulties during her pregnancy,” Scobie writes. “They were once both outsiders, middle-class women brought into the house of Windsor for unimaginably different lives. Kate, however, was uninterested in forming this kind of bond with Meghan.”

A source told Scobie that Kate, who apparently “wasn’t a fan” of Meghan’s, “can be cold if she doesn’t like someone.” Another source added, “She spent more time talking about Meghan than talking to her.”

Kate’s perception of Meghan reportedly hasn’t improved over the years. Scobie notes that the princess has “jokingly shivered when Meghan’s name has come up around her.” The sisters-in-law seem unlikely to reconcile, given that “there has been almost zero direct communication, bar a few short pleasantries, between the pair since late 2019.”

As for Kate’s once close bond with Prince Harry, Scobie writes that “she will always look back fondly on those moments … and the relationship he had with their children.” Still, Harry and Meghan’s repeated public airings-out of their grievances with the family and the institution of monarchy as a whole—as seen in their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, their Netflix docuseries, and Harry’s memoir, Spare—have left a bitter taste in Kate’s mouth. “To her, there is no way she could ever trust them after all their interviews,” Scobie says.

In Spare, Harry recalled Meghan getting off on the wrong foot during her first meeting with William and Kate, who were apparently “religious” viewers of her legal drama, Suits.

When the couple came over to Harry's for dinner, Meghan approached William with a hug. “[It] completely freaked him out,” Harry writes in Spare. “He recoiled. Willy didn't hug many strangers. Whereas Meg hugged most strangers.”

He added, “Will had hoped that she would greet him with standard reverence per the protocol because she didn't know it and I hadn't told her. When meeting my grandmother [the late Queen Elizabeth II], I'd made it clear—this is the queen, but when meeting my brother, it was just Willy, who loved Suits.”

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