For some years now, relations between Prince William, Princess Kate, and their in-laws, Prince Harry and Meghan, have been pretty sour, even though they were once dubbed the ‘Fab Four’
It’s no secret that tensions have been pretty high inside the House of Windsor for some time. Whilst Prince Harry might have finally begun a tentative reconciliation with his father, King Charles, it’s widely understood that the icy relations with his elder brother Prince William are not likely to thaw any time soon.
Before Harry and Meghan left life in the UK behind, reports swirled that all was not well between the couple and the Waleses, but it was only after the Sussexes moved to California – and got pretty candid about their grievances – that it was publicly confirmed that relations had indeed broken down.
Whilst Meghan and Kate have not been seen together in some years, the experts believe that some of the tension might have been visible between the two couples behind closed doors might have been noticeable long before the public became aware of it.
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It remains to be seen if there will be warmer relations in the future between Meghan and Kate, but throughout their public appearances, there were five major moments when the future Queen’s real feelings seemed to slip through her carefully worn royal mask.
First public engagement
Kate and Meghan had been photographed together at Christmas in 2017, but it wasn’t until 2018 that they took part in their first joint royal engagement, for the Royal Foundation Forum.
Sitting down with their husbands, they took part in a panel discussion about their planned charity work through the foundation.
Speaking to Cosmopolitan, body language expert Judi James explained that on this occasion, they appeared more like coworkers than friends or family.
“There seemed to be a ‘team member’ respect for one another, but they also seemed to steer clear of any more overt displays of sisterly friendship,” she explained, also noting that whilst Meghan threw herself into the discussion, Kate took a more “relaxed” approach.
Wimbledon ‘tension’
The two women attended Wimbledon together on two occasions, the first in 2018 and the second the following year. Kate, who has been patron of the All England Lawn and Tennis Club since 2016, took on a hosting role during their first visit to the Grand Slam, and with both women keen on the sport, they seemed to get on well and were signalling a “united front” at this stage.
Their time at the tennis championship came only weeks after the two women fell out behind closed doors in the build up to Harry and Meghan’s wedding, but they didn’t appear tense at the public outing, the expert explained.
“There was a lot of eye contact and appreciative gestures from Kate here to signal she really was bonding with her sister-in-law, and the mirroring between the women did hint they were enjoying one of the key interests they shared.
“There was even some whispering and giggling together behind hands poses to help suggest they now had a more than just polite relationship and were beginning to look like genuine friends.”
However, the following year, when they went again things did not seem to have “progressed” in a way that would indicate a stronger “friendship”, the expert claimed.
“By the time of the second visit there did appear to be some subtle signs of potential tension from Kate, who seems to have taken a more ‘adult’ stance”, Judi said.
“Kate was still very much the polite and friendly host but it is pretty obvious the bonding signals were showing no signs to hint of any growing or matured levels of closeness or rapport behind the scenes.
“The two women laughed together and even turned together to chat to someone behind them but as they turned back their smiles seemed to drop at about the same time. By now you could expect to see more exchanged glances, mirroring and more softening of the facial expressions when they talked to one another but there were no signs of any progression along those lines.
“Meghan had been placed in between Kate and her sister Pippa which looked like a signal of family unity, but it did seem to show up how Meghan tended to mirror Pippa more than Kate and to relax a little more while she was talking to her.
“Neither of these women would produce any active signals of dislike or unfriendliness but it’s the lack of any progression of friendship signals that seemed to imply their relationship had stalled, despite efforts to put on a show of unity in public. Both must have been aware that their husbands were struggling with their rift and this would have made it even more difficult.”
‘Deliberately avoiding’ at Polo match
Back in 2019, when Prince Archie was just a baby, Kate “deliberately avoided” Meghan at a polo match that their husbands were playing in, the body language expert claimed. Kate was tending to her three children in the photos snapped of the two women, playing with them and enjoying a picnic by the back of a car, but Meghan instead adopted a “protective” stance over Archie, and Kate didn’t approach her sister-in-law or new nephew in front of the cameras.
“What we’re looking at appears to be two mothers wrapped up and lost in their own worlds. This could be a deliberate effort to avoid one another,” Judi James explained at the time.
The expert did, however, point out that this could have simply been due to Archie being only weeks old, and perhaps Meghan’s desire to keep him asleep in her arms.
“We don’t see any shots of Kate getting up to coo over the baby, which you’d expect,” Judi added. “Kate stays down, Meghan stays up and neither seems willing to meet in the middle.
“Instead, Meghan seems to stand alone and wary with a high protective grasp on her little boy – as if to say it’s me and Archie against the world.”
Meghan’s final royal engagement
After the couple had dropped the bombshell news that they wanted to step back as working royals, shockwaves were sent across the nation. The Royal Family was widely reported at the time to be “blindsided” by the announcement – something Harry and Meghan denied.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex initially hoped to remain in the monarchy on a part-time basis, but at the Sandringham Summit, the senior royals and their aides decided that half-in, half-out wasn’t an option. This meant that in March 2020, the couple undertook their final official royal engagements before officially quitting their duties.
One of these last appearances as working royals was at the Commonwealth Day service that year, where an expert has claimed Kate’s displeasure at the situation was clear, and the “tension palpable”.
Judi James told the Mirror that the Princess’s “signature smile” was notably absent during her interactions with Meghan, and though the cameras spotted Meghan providing “bravely polite smiles of greeting” to the future King and Queen, Kate was looking away from the camera at the time, so no one saw her expression.
However, Meghan’s reaction might provide a clue into how she was received by Kate, the expert explained, “the way her beaming smile dropped like a brick suggested” her warmth had not been reciprocated.
Queen’s death, forced back together
When Queen Elizabeth died, Kate and Meghan were forced back together during the official mourning period. Though the Sussexes attended a portion of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, reuniting with their royal relatives, the death of the popular former monarch was a high-stress, gruelling time for the House of Windsor.
Kate, William, Harry, and Meghan undertook a walkabout in Windsor in the aftermath of the Queen’s death, where they met with the public and looked at tributes to the late monarch – but tension was clear in how Kate interacted with her sister-in-law.
After the four royals got out of the car, Kate quickly walked off by herself, with the body language expert revealing it indicated the future Queen went into “self-preservation mode”.
“Kate appeared to use spatial behaviour and distancing to make her own point about group dynamics and a lack of desire to turn an homage to a dearly-loved Queen into a soap-style drama.”
Judi continued, “her body language suggested a very focused future Queen wanting to pay her respects to a late Queen with the kind of decisive firmness and resolve that Elizabeth II was famous for.”
It has been claimed by royal author Robert Jobson that Kate found the walkabout “one of the hardest things she ever had to do” because of how badly relations between the two couples had soured, and the sombre nature of the occasion.
