During Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's interview with Oprah Winfrey,
Meghan wanted to clear up a rumor. It had been suggested in the press that a few days before
her royal wedding to Prince Harry in 2018, Meghan had made Kate Middleton cry. In fact,
the Duchess of Sussex said that the opposite had happened. Meghan explained that she didn't tell
the story to the world because she wanted to embarrass Kate, but rather, just to show that
there were many rumors that were wrong about her time in the palace. Explaining that the
Duchess of Cambridge had apologized and sent her flowers after the incident, Meghan told Oprah,
"I'm not sharing that piece about Kate in any way to be disparaging to her.
I think it's really important for people to understand the truth."
"If you love me you don't have to hate her, and if you love her, you don't need to hate me."
While no one knows exactly what goes on behind closed doors between Meghan and Kate,
there have been reports suggesting that the two get along well enough
for them to want to work on a new Netflix project together,
despite the ongoing feud between their husbands, Prince William and Prince Harry.
And while a lot of people have been focused on Meghan and Kate's relationship as sisters-in-law,
there's another Middleton sister that might not have warmed up to the idea of having
Meghan around, for better or for worse. That sister happens to be Pippa Middleton,
who reportedly didn't want to share the spotlight with the Hollywood star on her own wedding day.
Pippa Middleton burst onto the scene as her sister's maid of honor at her wedding to
Prince William in 2011. Pippa became an overnight sensation, thanks to the figure-hugging dress she
wore in front of an audience of millions. And while that royal wedding helped make Pippa the
household name she is today, she allegedly didn't want another up-and-coming star to steal the
thunder on her big day. Apparently, the Middletons were hesitant to invite Meghan to Pippa's wedding
to James Matthews in May 2017. According to the book "Finding Freedom," a source revealed,
"Both the bride and her mom, Carole, privately harbored concerns that the
American actress's presence alongside Harry might overshadow the main event."
While Meghan attended the evening reception for Pippa's wedding,
she wasn't invited to the ceremony or the rest of the daytime event. This issue may have made
things a bit awkward for the Duchess of Sussex when she sat next to the Middleton sisters at
another high-profile event. In 2019, Meghan accompanied both Kate and Pippa to Wimbledon,
the oldest tennis tournament in the world. Since then, though, Meghan has not been
photographed with Pippa, nor have the two women had anything to say about one another.
While it doesn't appear that Kate and Pippa are on Meghan's BFF list,
at least she has plenty of celebrity figures who she remains very close to, including her very
good friend, professional tennis player Serena Williams. Williams told Access Hollywood in 2019,
"I really think she's the strongest, literally, the strongest person I know
and the nicest, sweetest. [...] Doesn't matter what she's going through,
she just sets time away, and she's just so amazing."
While it's possible that Meghan Markle and Pippa Middleton's appearance together at Wimbledon
in 2019 may have been staged to make it look like everything was friendly between the two,
it turns out that Kate Middleton may have actively been trying to smooth things over
between her sister and sister-in-law. Body language expert Judi James told
the Express what she saw from the royals at the highly visible sporting event, saying,
"When Kate took sister Pippa to Wimbledon at the height of the rumors about rifts
between herself and Meghan, it was telling that she placed Meghan in
the middle seat [...] to ensure she was seen as being at the heart of the family
as well as being almost over-catered for in terms of hosting and friendly attention."
Beyond that, the expert pointed out,
"All three women managed to appear friendly and happy but some of the
strongest signals of rapport appeared to be between Pippa and Meghan. [...] With
less pressure from the press in terms of analysing for any signals of frostiness,
Pippa and Meghan managed to perform some more relaxed-looking chats."
So, perhaps Meghan and Pippa are friendlier towards each other than people realize.
Only time will tell.
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