Since the moment that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle met, the two have constantly been compared
to the more traditional Prince William and Kate Middleton, but the two couples are living
life in very different ways.
Here are the wildest differences between the two royal couples.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle met on a blind date set up by a mutual friend, who's known
Harry since childhood and met Meghan through her work with Ralph Lauren.
In a BBC News interview, Meghan admitted she was cautious, saying,
"I didn't know much about him, and so the only thing that I had asked her when she said
she wanted to set us up was, I had one question: 'Was he nice?'"
"Cause if he wasn't kind, it just didn't, it didn't seem like it would make sense."
According to the royal biography, Finding Freedom, the pair quickly became close after
their intimate blind date at Soho House's Dean Street Townhouse in the summer of 2016.
Meghan, fresh out of a two-year relationship, and Harry, who sipped on beer during their
first meeting, were reportedly, quote, "in their own little world," and there was a,
quote, "palpable attraction" between them.
They waited less than 24 hours to see each other again, and the rest is royal tabloid
history.
While Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were one of the few blind date success stories,
Prince William and Kate Middleton are a testament to how friends sometimes make the best lovers.
The pair first met while they were freshman at the University of St. Andrews.
According to Town & Country, Kate was an art history major and William studied geography.
Though a former classmate claimed to People that the pair, quote, "definitely had chemistry"
from the start, William told ITV News that they were actually, quote, "friends for over
a year" before they started dating and even became housemates.
He told the publication,
"We moved in together as friends.
[...] We lived with a couple of others as well, and it just sort of blossomed from there,
really."
According to ABC News, the turning point was a student fashion show where Kate wore her
now-infamous sheer dress, to which William reportedly remarked, quote, "Wow.
Kate's hot."
At the time, she was dating a senior named Rupert Finch, and William reportedly tried
to kiss her at a party later that night.
Though she pulled away, it would seem that she eventually warmed up to the idea of dating
a royal.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had a televised wedding like most royals towards the top of
the line of succession, but they actually had already tied the knot — sort of.
In the Sussexes' bombshell Interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan revealed that the pair
had a secret backyard wedding ahead of the $50 million affair held at Windsor Castle's
St. George's Chapel that the rest of us watched on TV.
She told Oprah,
"You know, three days before our wedding, we got married.
No one knows that.
The vows that we have framed in our room are just the two of us in our backyard with the
Archbishop of Canterbury."
As it turns out, this claim wasn't entirely accurate.
According to The Daily Beast, there was no witness present, so it wasn't actually a legal
marriage ceremony.
Still, it was a ceremony nonetheless — and one that proved the couple would always prioritize
their personal commitment to each other over royal fanfare.
As for the actual event, Meghan ditched tradition and walked herself partially down the aisle,
establishing her independence from the royal family from the very start.
Prince William and Kate Middleton's 2011 wedding was a decade in the making, and as such, it
was a massive televised affair.
According to The Telegraph, 18.7 million viewers tuned into BBC One to watch the ceremony — but
that was just one channel and a mere 67.2% of the audience share.
By the end of the event, more than 24 million Britons had tuned in, which roughly equated
to more than a third of the U.K.'s total population at that time.
In the United States, the ceremony was equally as popular, garnering more viewers than Prince
Charles and Princess Diana's 1981 nuptials.
According to Deadline, it attracted nearly 23 million viewers stateside, and even Prince
Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding couldn't compete.
In comparison, the Sussexes' nuptials had six million fewer UK viewers and only generated
£1 billion for the British economy.
According to The Guardian, the Cambridges' wedding was estimated to pull in twice that,
or about £2 billion, over the course of several years.
"I pronounce that they be man and wife together, in the name of the father, and of the son
and of the holy ghost."
The world of a royal is sometimes unforgiving, especially when you're expected to don heels
and pose for the press a few short hours after giving birth.
Nonetheless, postpartum photos on the hospital steps are a royal right of passage.
Princess Diana did it with her sons, and Kate Middleton followed suit after the births of
Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.
According to Town & Country, she even gave a nod to the People's Princess after the birth
of her third child by wearing a similar red dress to the one Diana wore when she first
posed with Harry.
Kate told the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast,
"For us to be able to share that joy and appreciation with the public, I felt was really important."
Meghan Markle doesn't share her sister-in-law's sentiment.
She kept son Archie's birth private and only posed for a photo two days afterward in the
very controlled environment of Windsor Castle.
It was not an open press call and security concerns played a role.
"I was very scared of having to offer up our baby knowing that they weren't going to be
kept safe."
According to Page Six, Meghan, quote, "felt sorry" that Kate had to pose wearing, quote,
"a dress, heels, and impeccable hair and makeup" so quickly after birth.
Presumably, it might take even longer for the Sussexes to share photos of baby No. 2,
after welcoming daughter Lili in June 2021.
If you're a royal, the tabloids are a necessary evil.
As Prince Harry explained to Oprah Winfrey in his bombshell interview, the royal family
has a, quote, "invisible contract" with Britain's most powerful gossip rags.
He said,
"If you as a family member are willing to wine, dine, and give full access to these
reporters, then you will get better press."
It's not exactly a secret that the palace has what's known as the "royal rota" system.
According to Insider, it was established 40 years ago to give approved newspapers, like
the Daily Express, the Daily Mail, and The Sun, exclusive access to royal engagements.
In turn, these reporters end up building relationships with the royals.
William and Kate seem to consistently honor their so-called contract with the press.
As reported by Insider, Kate provides tabloids with photos of her children on their birthdays
each year, a strategy first adopted by Princess Diana.
She's also given newspapers permission to print photos from her Instagram account.
Overall, she works with the tabloids, rather than against them.
That's not to say she's never taken the press to court, like when paparazzi snapped topless
photos of her sunbathing without her consent, but as BuzzFeed noted, the media backed off
once Meghan Markle was in the picture.
Meghan Markle has had a particularly tough run with the tabloids, enough so that Stylist
was able to compile an expansive list of racist, sexist, and just plain hurtful stories that
were actually published.
She couldn't even eat avocado toast without being accosted, and it took a toll on her
mental health.
In her Oprah Winfrey interview, the former actor admitted that the constant media scrutiny
made her feel suicidal, but the palace allegedly refused to help in fear of, quote, "the tabloids
turning on them."
This fueled the couple's move to the United States.
"I just didn't…
I just didn’t want to be alive anymore."
Prince Harry said during an episode of The Me You Can't See,
"The clicking of cameras and the flashes of the cameras makes my blood boil.
It makes me angry and takes me back to what happened to my mom and what I experienced
as a kid.
But it went to a whole new depth with not just traditional media, but also social media
platforms as well."
In April 2020, the Sussexes announced that they were cutting off contact with four of
the UK's largest tabloids.
In a scathing letter, the pair revealed they would no longer, quote, "offer themselves
up as currency for an economy of clickbait and distortion."
Meghan later won a lawsuit against the Mail on Sunday, which published a letter she wrote
to her father without her consent.
In January 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made the shocking announcement that they were
stepping down as senior members of the royal family and giving up their titles.
As we learned in their Oprah Winfrey interview, the move — dubbed "Megxit” in the tabloids
— was partially fueled by the pair's seemingly unending negative media coverage, the toll
it took on Meghan's mental health, and the fact that the royal family did not offer their
family any help or protection.
The pair, who also accused unnamed members of the royal family of racism due to comments
made about baby Archie's skin color, ended up feeling like prisoners in the palace, a
realization Harry credits to Meghan.
Harry said,
"I was trapped but I didn't know I was trapped.
[...] Like the rest of my family are, my father and my brother, they are trapped."
"They don't get to leave."
Following the announcement, the couple moved to Canada, but faced concerns over security
after their home's location was revealed, according to CNN.
Tyler Perry ended up stepping in and offering them his home in Southern California with
full security.
The Sussexes are now just about as far away from the royal family as a person could get
in the continental United States.
As the eventual heir to the throne, Prince William has every right to feel trapped in
the royal family.
After all, his role was decided before he was even born.
Nonetheless, it doesn't seem like William was all that thrilled about his brother's
comments during the Oprah Winfrey interview.
It was salacious enough that it elicited a rare public statement.
"We're very much not a racist family."
According to a March 2021 report from The Sunday Times, the Duke of Cambridge was, quote,
"reeling" from Prince Harry's tell-all.
He also apparently did not feel trapped.
Instead, a source claimed the future monarch is, quote, "completely accepting of his role."
This echoes the same sentiment shared by royal author Penny Juror, who spoke to The Sun.
Juror claimed that it was unlikely that William felt trapped because he's, quote, "embracing"
his role as the heir.
She said,
"Harry is absolutely wrong.
I don't think William feels trapped at all.
I think he absolutely gets what his destiny is."
The biggest difference between the Cambridges and the Sussexes is, perhaps, expectations.
Today, Prince Harry is royal only by blood.
The royal family is still his family, but he's living his life with Meghan Markle away
from the crown.
Even before his so-called "Megxit," he was only sixth in line to the throne, and his
place would presumably be bumped down two generations from now if Prince William's children
decide to have children.
In other words: Harry and Meghan don't have to follow any royal protocols.
They can live by their own rules, and that was actually a double-edged sword during their
time in the palace.
Harry's place in the line of succession was why the pair didn't get security and why their
son didn't get his royal title.
The same thing can't be said for Prince William and Kate Middleton.
As the future monarch, the duke must adhere to most royal protocols, and Kate must follow
his lead, though they do occasionally make exceptions.
According to Express, the couple aren't even supposed to travel together with their children
in the event that a tragic accident wipes out the second, third, fourth, and fifth heirs
to the throne.
Queen Elizabeth has let this rule slide, but it's expected to be enforced when their eldest
child, Prince George, turns 12.
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