How does Prince William feel about Prince Harry's memoir?
And what really happened between Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton? Answers ahead,
as we explore who Will and Kate allegedly find to be royal pains.
Family dynamics are tough, and transitioning a new person into the family can be difficult,
especially when that family is a centuries-old institution responsible for representing a
world power. Although Meghan Markle was seemingly met with open arms when
she first joined her husband Prince Harry's family, details from their documentary series,
Harry & Meghan, as well as Harry's memoir, Spare, are suggesting otherwise.
And one relationship seems to be particularly fraught. Markle reportedly was at odds with
her sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, long before Megxit, with bits of their feud
taking place prior to Markle and Harry's royal wedding. As Harry shared in Spare,
much of the drama surrounding the days leading up to the nuptials was
due to an ill-fitting bridesmaid dress. Middleton reportedly texted to Markle,
"Charlotte's dress is too big, too long, too baggy. She cried when she tried it on at home."
Markle responded with,
"Right, and I told you the tailor has been standing by since 8am. Here. At
KP. Can you take Charlotte to have it altered, as the other mums are doing?"
Another source of tension spawned from Markle asking
Middleton to borrow her lip gloss. Harry wrote,
"Kate, taken aback, went into her handbag and reluctantly pulled out a small tube.
Meg squeezed some onto her finger and applied it to her lips. Kate grimaced."
Harry also noted there was plenty he left out of his book,
so we're guessing there's more to the story.
The general public was foaming at the mouth over the release of Prince Harry's memoir Spare. The
highly anticipated book became the fastest-selling non-fiction book in history, according to
the Guinness World Records, dethroning the previous record-holder, President Barack Obama.
"There have been more revelations by Prince Harry about his life in Britain's royal family."
Not everyone was so thrilled by the memoir's release, though. As Us Weekly reports,
Kate Middleton was upset by the mention of her name. A source told the publication,
"Kate feels that Harry's actions are atrocious. She is appalled at him for
dragging her name through the dirt and is finding it hard to forgive."
Although Harry did recount some positive memories he has with his sister-in-law,
most of what the royal said about Middleton in his memoir was negative. In addition to
revealing text messages sent to his wife and dismay over shared beauty products, Harry also
claimed Middleton and Prince William encouraged him to wear a Nazi uniform as a costume. He wrote,
"I phoned Willy and Kate, asked what they thought. Nazi uniform, they said. I rented it,
plus a silly mustache, and went back to the house. I tried it all on. They both howled."
And Kate's not the only one who has beef with Harry. As Prince Harry has shared through
multiple media outlets, he and his brother, Prince William, have been at odds for years,
and after the release of Harry's memoir, reconciliation might not come any time
soon. According to Harry's book, he and his brother had a physical altercation. Harry wrote,
"He set down the water, called me another name, then came at me. [...] He grabbed me by the
collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dog's bowl,
which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment,
dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out."
It's hard enough to make friends as an adult, let alone when you're one
of the most famous people in the world and a literal princess. And in 2019,
amid ample rumors of a rift between Kate Middleton and her sister-in-law Meghan Markle,
Middleton was subject to another swirl of tabloid fodder, this time suggesting she and her friend
Rose Hanbury had a falling out. A since-removed report from The Sun claimed that Middleton and
Hanbury were no longer friends, and that Middleton had directed Prince William to end his friendship
with her as well. Another since-removed report by The Sun cited a source saying,
"It is well known that Kate and Rose have had a terrible falling
out. They used to be close but that is not the case any more."
The rumors surrounding the new nature of Middleton's relationship with Hanbury persisted,
leading other outlets to speculate about what the cause of the potential falling
out might have been. InTouch alleged that William and Hanbury had an affair while
Middleton was pregnant, suggesting that was the cause of Middleton and Hanbury's supposed feud.
Kensington Palace never released any public statements concerning the rumors at the time they
first surfaced, but in the Netflix docu-series Harry & Meghan, Harry seemed to hint at them.
"They were happy to lie to protect my brother. They were
never willing to tell the truth to protect us."
You can't believe everything you read. And if you ask Kate Middleton,
she might warn you to be especially cautious of the British tabloid newspaper,
The Sun. Thanks to a since-removed report by the popular outlet,
rumors of a falling out between Middleton and her friend Rose Hanbury circulated.
The news was reportedly not taken well by Middleton. A source explained to The Daily Mail,
"These hurtful rumors of a fall-out are simply false. William and David
were in touch with each other over the weekend, not knowing whether to laugh
or complain. Both wives are hurt by the suggestion that there is any argument or
even a coolness between them. They have plans for future events involving their charity."
The report by The Daily Mail went on to claim the royals and Hanbury's party had contemplated
leveling formal complaints against The Sun, but they ultimately overlooked the issue.
Apparently The Sun isn't the only media source Kate Middleton isn't fond of in
Britain. Due to her position in the public eye, Middleton's life is lived under a microscope,
the paparazzi serving as the operators of the instrument. And as Tina Brown claimed in her
book The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor – The Truth and the Turmoil,
Middleton has no time for the particularly aggressive members
of the media who will seemingly stop at nothing to get a photo of the royal family,
treatment she reportedly first experienced while dating Prince William. Brown wrote in her book,
"Kate was relentlessly pursued in London. She was hounded when she left her Chelsea
apartment in ways reminiscent of the harassment of the young Lady Di."
Lady Di, of course, is referencing Princess Diana, William's mother,
who famously died in a car accident in Paris in 1997 while being pursued by the paparazzi.
"The level of reaction to Diana's death took everybody by surprise."
Diana's relationship with the media was one that is still talked about to this day,
with many blaming her death on those who were chasing her. This speculation has also led to
wide discussions over how her death did or did not alter the way the media interacts
with celebrities. If you ask Middleton her thoughts on the subject, she might
say the paparazzi are just as ruthless today as they were when her mother-in-law was alive.
Prince William has also not been thrilled with the treatment his
wife received. When William began dating Middleton, he released a statement noting
his displeasure at the behavior of the British paparazzi. The statement said,
"Prince William is very unhappy at the paparazzi harassment of his girlfriend.
He wants, more than anything, for it to stop. Miss Middleton should,
like any other private individual, be able to go about her everyday business
without this kind of intrusion. The situation is proving unbearable for all those concerned."
One instance in particular infuriated William. In 2012,
he and Middleton stayed at a villa in France,
and Closer magazine printed photos of a topless princess that were taken during their vacation.
The royal family took legal action over the photos, and William shared through his attorney,
"My wife and I thought that we could go to France for a few days in a secluded villa
owned by a member of my family, and thus enjoy our privacy. [...] The clandestine way in which
these photographs were taken was particularly shocking to us as it breached our privacy."
Prince William has made his feelings about the paparazzi perfectly clear on multiple occasions,
but one particular member is allegedly harder for the royal to bear than others. In 2021,
William was recorded by Terry Harris, a British photographer,
who, as told by The Independent, was supposedly obtaining footage
of the royal family. In the since-deleted video, William is heard saying to Harris,
"How dare you behave like you have done with our children? How dare you? Stalking around
here looking for us and our children? I'm out for a quiet bike ride with my children on a Saturday
and you won't even give me your name. You're outrageous, you're disgusting, you really are."
Kensington Palace was unhappy with the video, calling it a breach of privacy.
Although William does not have a good rapport with certain members of the British media,
other members of the royal family have insinuated that the relationship between the country's news
outlets and the monarchy is, to a certain extent, symbiotic. As Meghan Markle told Oprah Winfrey,
"There's a reason that these tabloids have holiday parties at the Palace."
"They're hosted by the Palace, the tabloids are.
You know, there is a construct that's at play there."
Prince Harry agreed, saying that there's an invisible
contract between the tabloids and the royal family. He added,
"I'm acutely aware of where my family stand
and how acutely scared they are of the tabloids turning on them."
Long before Prince William married Kate Middleton, he was considered one of the most eligible
bachelors in the world, and his dating life was at the center of the media for years. The prince
dated several impressive women, even almost marrying some. While studying at St. Andrews,
William dated Carly Massy-Birch. The relationship didn't last long, and William soon began dating
his future wife, though they waited some time before taking it public. While at a party,
Massy-Birch reportedly revealed that William and Middleton were in fact an item during
a game of Never Have I Ever. As noted in the book, The Making of a Royal Romance,
"When it was Carly's turn to play she announced, 'I've never dated two people in this room,'
knowing full well that William was the only one who had, because Kate was sitting next to him."
The couple took the reveal well, but William reportedly said,
quote, "I can't believe you just said that" to his ex-girlfriend.
The royal relationship, of course, ended up in Middleton's favor. In 2011,
William and Middleton wed, and by 2013 had welcomed their first child. In 2023,
over a decade after walking down the aisle, the royal couple has had three children, and William
is now next in line to the throne after the death of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II,
in September 2022. Though we can't say for certain, we're guessing it's safe to assume
Massy-Birch will never bear the title of Queen. All the major details, and more, of the royals'
lives have been made public since their births. Before Megxit, the biggest royal scandal in
recent history was the affair King Charles had with his now-wife Camilla Parker-Bowles
while he was married to Princess Diana. The relationship between Charles and Parker-Bowles
eventually led to a separation between him and Diana, and four years later, the two divorced.
"Well there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."
A year after that, Diana died, leaving behind her two children, Prince William and Prince Harry.
Just as the public was intrigued by the relationship between Charles and Parker-Bowles,
so have they been interested to know about how she gets along with her step-children.
Per the book Camilla: From Outcast to Queen Consort, the relationship between
Parker-Bowles and William is a bit strained. As author Angela Levin asserted in the book,
"William has made it clear that Camilla is the wife of his father,
but not a step-grandmother to his children."
She further lumped Harry into the equation, noting,
"One carefully managed myth peddled by Bolland was that
the boys had warmed to Camilla. But they tolerated her at best."
"She was the villain."
In his memoir Spare, Harry seems to corroborate
the claims that William isn't Parker-Bowles's biggest fan,
noting that the royal brothers were against Charles and Parker-Bowles's marriage. He wrote,
"Despite Willy and me urging him not to, Pa was going ahead."