The Royal Feud: Dissecting Kate and Meghan's Silent "War". How It Even Started?

The latest hullabaloo in the British royal family where rift between royal brothers, William and Harry, had been documented, debated, intensely discussed in public, stemmed from, well many claimed, the cold relationship of the sisters-in-law, Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle.


Ms. Markle's entry to the British royal family was quite not fairytale. It was filled with intense speculation, drama, intrigue, betrayal that one couldn't help but think if ever she had a peace of mind while walking-down-the aisle.


Prior to the wedding in May 2018 at St. George's Chapel, her sister, Samantha Markle, called her selfish and liar who would bring down the royal family to the pit of destruction. She even begged Prince Harry not to proceed in marriage.


Days before the wedding, Meghan's father, Thomas Markle, who had not met Prince Harry in person until today, was involved in a scandalous report of staging a paparazzi for money. 



From then on, his relationship with his daughter was effectively over. He was struck out of the wedding and out of his daughter's life.

By then, we started getting clues that Meghan might be someone who would disappoint "the firm".

The publicity machine of the palace intervened to prevent things from blowing out of a proportion and thoroughly embarrassed the royal family.

They released a statement that Mr. Markle, well,  had to rush home for treatment of his pre-existing health condition.

Oh. Huh. The timing.


Meanwhile, Meghan was ushered to the altar by the groom's father, Prince Charles, on the day of the wedding. Quite strange. 

It went well. For a time.

And then the bombshell reports. Six months after the wedding, rumors began circulating that the newly-minted Duchess of Sussex and her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge, weren't seeing eye to eye. And that the silent feud had affected Kensington Palace.

How could this be even happening in the modern age of the monarchy?


We have heard royal misadventures, royal marriages that went wrong, wild princes and princesses all throughout the decades, but never an open rift between sisters-in-law in the royal family since 1990s.

Meanwhile, Kate and Meghan. 

Royals are thrust into the limelight of public duties. They are bound for so many expectations. They are perceived to be the unifying symbols of their countries and expected to be the role models of decorum, and proper behavior, the last thing we want to hear is royals at war.


Meghan and Kate must remember that they have married brothers who are the only children of a future king. Being into some sort of "feud" doesn't help building an ideal reputation of an adorable future royal family.

Can't they just fix things? Gulped the pride and get back into business. It's been two years since they're gracing headlines over an unresolved feud.

So, here's how things went wrong.

According to The Telegraph, citing a very reliable source, the Duchess of Sussex actually had a bad start with the Duchess of Cambridge.

That bad start was traced back to the royal wedding dress rehearsal in 2018 where Princess Charlotte acted as one of Meghan's  bride's maids. Story had it that "Kate left in tears".

Apparently, Kate and Meghan had a misunderstanding over what the bride's maids should be wearing in the wedding, whether nylon or tights.

Princess Charlotte wearing tights 

Meghan insisted tights. Kate wanted nylon. Well, as we have seen in the wedding, Meghan won the argument, well because she's the bride.

The feud however, did not end there.

A month later,  reports had it that the two duchesses had an explosive row over Meghan's attitude towards Kate's staff. Allegedly, Meghan has been rude to Kate's staff while still at Kensington Palace.

At this point the palace intervened to placate the intrigues and released  a statement that all is well between the sisters-in-law. And the issues are just destructive rumors.

We've anticipated the string of denials from both camps of course. Because it's really damaging and nasty.

However, it didn't stop intense speculations from progressing, much more when the fab four finally separated. And the Sussexes moved to Frogmore Cottage.

Allegedly, the two duchesses can't stand with each other and their husbands rushed into the scene to defend them.

The drama picks a feverish pitch.


Months later, stories inflated into more intriguing tales of friction, discomfort and differences when the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex finally dragged into the scene.

It didn't help that the palace denied the growing animosity between the brothers and their wives, even to the point of letting them appear together in public.

Polo. Wimbledon. Picnic in the park.

But people are tired of shows. So, most of us knew it was just a show. And there's something deeper going on between the two sisters-in-law that the palace doesn't want to confirm. 

The "staging" didn't work, perhaps because the participants were not willing to cooperate. Their body movements said it all.

Observers noted that there's a silent animosity creeping between Kate and Meghan each time they are in public together. As if they prefer to be somewhere else than to be with each other.

Around this time, rumors circulating that Kate apparently was not helpful when Meghan joined the family and that she just left the Hollywood starlet navigate the difficult royal life alone.

But the camp of Kate retaliated that yeah, Kate tried to reach out but it was Meghan who was difficult and stubborn and wanted to do things on her own.

Then the things became nastier ever. Claiming the feud was really between the brothers because Harry felt being left out by William by not being supportive of his decision to marry Meghan.

Prince William was heard saying to his brother to not rush into marriage with Meghan because he only met the Suit star in just over a year.

Of course the palace denied all these stuff. As expected.

Recent development of this royal drama has gotten more intense when a magazine article ran a story about Kate quoting some confidential sources that she's complaining a heavy workload of public duties thrust in her shoulder when the Sussexes left the royal scene.

And it didn't take long before the Sussex camp aired Meghan's side that her sister-in-law is always a whiner.

Different Background might be the culprit

Until, finally royal insiders admitted that Kate and Meghan are not actually "chummy", their relationship wasn't always warm, they can be civil to each other but can't never be best friends, unlike Diana and Sarah in the old days.

It could be differences in personality.

Meghan appeared to be very independent, head strong, fierce who wanted to lead, wanted to raise her own voice, wanted to be on her own.

While Kate is submissive and does not want to have a voice of her own. She is just contented to be appearing behind the shadow of her husband.

Meghan does not want to be like that. She wanted to rise above the tide,  wanted to insist her own advocacy. In the process, she overshadowed Kate.


So, that's how we summarize the friction, conflict, rift and all these miseries of silent war between Kate and Meghan.

They simply have different views and perception how the "royal role" should be understood. They are totally on a different level of absorbing royal life. So their personality clashed.

Sad. But why can't just they try fixing things for the sake of the monarchy? Knowing their husbands are the only children of the future king.

The Heir and the Spare relationship had thoroughly eroded. Although lately, William and Harry are said to be communicating again, things are never going to  be the same again.

Their wives. Yes, their wives can't simply get along. This is the case of "when outsiders (commoners) join the royal family, they carry their independence to an institution that never tolerates independence".

When you decide to marry a senior member of the royal family so near to the throne, that's the day you give up your freedom.

Andrew Morton said in his book, Diana: Her True Story: "Grafting commoners into the Hanoverian Tree proved to be very disastrous".


Decades later, the warning still rings true. Now, I remember the words given by Queen Victoria to her children when marrying, "Just close your eyes and think of England".

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