There’s a Doc About Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton's ‘Feud’—and We Learned A Lot
Pollard, however, thinks the move has to do with the fact Meghan and Harry are expanding their family. “Now you’re making new babies—new families—to yourself,” she says. “It would probably be healthier to have a bit of space.”
Author and historian Kate Williams adds privacy could have something to do with it, as well: “Harry is obsessed with privacy, and he’s seen what’s happened to William’s children every time they go out to the park inside Kensington Palace. Someone takes a snap of them.”
6. On how honest the British media is. Rumors come out about the royal family almost daily, but should we believe them? “I think that a lot of rumors about Kate and Meghan are manufactured to sell newspapers,” Paul Burrell, Princess Diana’s former butler, says. “An editor in Canary Wharf (a hotel) actually said to me, ‘We’ve never let the truth get in the way of a good story.’ And I think there’s an element of that with Kate and Meghan.”
Malone, who has decades of tabloid experience, offers a different take. She says the Kate-Meghan rumors are likely coming from inside Kensington Palace. “The media, contrary to popular opinion, do not make up stories,” she says. “The fact of the matter is we hear things. We get told things. People will say, ‘You haven’t named [the sources].’ Of course we haven’t because you can’t name some of the people who are saying derogatory things about Meghan. They would be fired.”
7. So who is leaking these stories? “Disgruntled people do the leaking,” Malone says. “People who think stories should be out in the public domain do the leaking. People who get upset that one picture is being portrayed and it’s not the whole picture.”
8. Prince Harry and Prince William’s strained relationship. This is yet another narrative that’s dominated the royal family for quite some time. “I was told that the underlying tensions—the riff—was actually between William and Harry,” Nicholl says. “They were a brilliant team together, but they were also fiercely competitive.”
Nicholl also addresses her Vanity Fair article alleging Prince Harry was upset Prince William didn’t “roll out the red carpet” for Meghan when she first met everyone. “William was quite concerned that the relationship [between Harry and Meghan] had moved so quickly,” she says. “And being close to Harry—probably the only person close enough to say to Harry, ‘This seems to be moving quickly, are you sure?’ I think what was meant as well-intended brotherly advice just riled Harry. Harry is hugely protective of Meghan. He saw [William’s comment] as criticism. He interpreted that as his brother not really being behind this marriage—this union—and I don’t think things have been quite right ever since.”
9. The queen reads “every newspaper” in the morning. This comes from Burrell (a.k.a Princess Diana’s former butler). “If there’s something which disturbs her, she’ll mention it to her children,” he says.
10. The people who will make Meghan Markle’s life “hell.” Burrell has an opinion on this—though it’s only his opinion. “There are two different elements to Buckingham Palace: the royal family and the royal household. I personally think the royal household is far more difficult than the royal family,” he says. “They’re what Princess Diana called ‘the grey suits.’ They’re the ones that made Princess Diana’s life hell. They’re the ones that are going to make Meghan’s life hell, too.”
11. Meghan will have to curtsy to Kate when William becomes king. According to Burrell, at least. “Whenever there’s a precession, Meghan will be down the line with Harry,” he says.”Kate will always be in front. This is going to be alien to her: going into this world and having to curtsy to everybody, including her sister-in-law in public. Meghan has to understand that’s protocol.”