Kate Middleton turns 41 on Monday, the day before her brother-in-law Prince Harry’s memoir Spare finally comes out.
This is not likely to be the happiest day for the princess.
“Harry and Meghan are always good at timing,” said one senior royal source who knows Prince William and Kate. A source said the Prince and Princess of Wales were left “spinning” by Harry’s book.
But it wasn’t always like that. In fact, when William popped the question to Kate after eight years together, his younger brother Harry was thrilled, in 2010. saying of his brother’s wedding: “It means I have the sister I’ve always wanted.”
But the woman Harry once spoke glowingly of is presented in his book as cold and uncaring.
“Kate, William and Harry were best friends, they were inseparable,” said a source in Wales. “These are the words of a man who has literally been blinded by love so that he can’t see straight.
But in Spare, Harry blames Kate for taking his beloved brother Willy away from him, writing that after their wedding in 2011 April: “The brother I escorted to Westminster Abbey that morning is gone—for good. Who could deny that?”
In contrast, Harry writes how he had long dreamed of forming a working partnership with William, Kate and his wife – even before he met and fell in love with the Suits star in 2016.
“I also said that I couldn’t wait for them to meet her, that I was looking forward to the four of us spending a lot of time together, and I’ve admitted more than once that it’s been a dream of mine to join them for a long time. with an equal partner. To become four,” Harry writes.
Instead, Kate and Markle have never been close friends.
From the moment her relationship with the prince was revealed, Markle has been publicly compared to Kate, the future Queen of Great Britain: the English rose versus the outspoken American actress.
In Harry’s new memoir
According to Harry’s book, when the spotlight shifted to Markle, Kate felt she was “forced to compete with Meg.” He details how Kate “grimaced” when Markle asked to borrow some lip gloss at their first Fab Four event in 2018. February. In the Royal Foundation Forum.
The Duke of Sussex writes that the outing marked the split between the women in the press after reporters “felt” the tension during the interview.
“I think Kate was impressed when she and everyone else pointed out that she would now be compared to Meg and forced to compete with her,” Harry writes.
He adds that Kate was furious in 2018 when Markle accused her of having “baby brain” after the birth of Prince Louis and demanded that Markle apologise.
After that, Harry said that in 2018 in June, the couple gathered for tea at Kensington Palace to try to reconcile.
But the prince claims Kate told her new sister-in-law: “You were talking about my hormones. We’re not close enough for you to be talking about my hormones!
Harry, now 38, recalls how an “offended” Kate gripped her chair so hard her knuckles turned white.
“In fact, I can imagine Harry and William clashing. I think William is quite hot-headed,’ said a source in Wales. “But Kate has been one of Harry’s biggest supporters so it’s really heartbreaking.
Despite the scathing comments, a source insisted William and Kate will not tear up the books, saying: “They are so united, they are made of such strong stuff.” Still, “everyone is pretty shocked, they’re reeling. Let’s be honest, it was blow after blow.
“It’s so disrespectful, so painful [the book is just delivering the last blow. It’s like when you’re in the boxing ring and there’s the knockout punch — there’s no way back.”
In Harry and Markle’s infamous 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Markle, now 41, confirmed that she felt she had been held to a different standard than Kate.
Winfrey shared a media story in which Kate was celebrated for cradling her baby bump — while a later story about Markle doing the same thing had the headline: “Meghan Can’t Keep Hands Off Baby Bump for Pride or Vanity.”
“I don’t know why. I can see now what layers were at play there,” Markle told Winfrey.
“[The press] seemed to really want a hero vs. villain story.
While Markle was happy to speak out, Kate stuck to the royal family’s oft-repeated motto – “Never complain, never explain” – and, like her husband and other relatives, stayed silent.
Markle herself said in the recent Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan that Kate was “formal” behind closed doors.
“Even when Will and Kate came and I met her for the first time, I remember I was in ripped jeans, I was barefoot,” she said.
The Duchess of Sussex added that she was “always a hugger” and didn’t realize how “nervous” it was for “a lot of British people”.
But an insider retorted to People magazine that Kate is a hugger, adding: “She’s warm and friendly and greets everyone with big hugs and kisses. It’s natural for her to be like that.”
There was also controversy over the bridesmaid dress for Princess Charlotte, William and Kate’s daughter, for the Sussex wedding in 2018. in may Although reports said Markle made Kate cry, Markle told Winfrey it was the other way around; Harry writes that he returned home after the incident to find his fiancée crying on the floor.
“I was horrified to see [Meghan] so upset, but I didn’t think it was a disaster,” he writes, downplaying the situation. “In fact the next morning Kate came with flowers and a card saying she was sorry.
As Page Six previously reported, Kate has strong family support with her parents Carole and Mike Middleton, as well as her sister Pippa and brother James, and the family has embraced William. Meanwhile, Harry appears to have bonded with Markle’s mother, Doria.
Asked what Harry’s book means for his relationship with William and Kate, a source familiar with the Welshman said: “I hope Harry had moments of conscience when he wrote it. I think there was a point where people thought it was going to be a smarter, less provocative, less tabloid book, but here it is.
