Since Meghan Markle joined the royal family in 2018, speculation has been made about the nature of her relationship with sister-in-law, Kate, the Princess of Wales.
As the two daughters-in-law of the late Princess Diana, and both young glamorous public figures in their own right, the level of media and public interest in the pair has only increased year on year.
So far, both Meghan and Kate have said very little on the record about their relationship.
In her November 2017 engagement interview, Meghan said Kate had been “wonderful” during her induction into the royal family and praised her work, together with William and Harry, on raising awareness of mental health issues.
Despite promising signs at public events together, six months after Meghan and Harry’s May 2018 wedding, reports began to circulate that a friendship had not developed between the new duchess and Kate.
This was later confirmed by both Meghan and Harry in interviews after their 2020 split from the monarchy.
Here, Newsweek looks back to the moment Meghan and Kate’s relationship began, with everything Meghan has said so far about her first meeting with her royal sister-in-law
‘I Was Barefoot’
Meghan provided an insight into her first meeting with Kate in the second episode of her 2022 eponymous Netflix docuseries with Prince Harry.
Charting the course of their relationship and dramatic split with the monarchy, which saw the couple move to California in 2020, the show contained a number of never before heard insights into life behind palace walls.
Speaking about her introduction to the royal family, Meghan told viewers that she was glad she hadn’t much background knowledge on the monarchy.
“It’s so funny if I look back at it now, because now I know so much and I’m so glad I didn’t then,” she said. “Because I could just authentically be myself without so much preparedness.”
As an example of this, she referenced first meeting Kate for a dinner with Harry and Prince William at Kensington Palace, understood to have taken place in 2017.
“Even when Will and Kate came over and I met her for the first time, they came over for dinner and I was in ripped jeans and I was barefoot,” she said, noting the royal culture shock she was confronted with.
“It’s like I was a hugger, I’ve always been a hugger…I didn’t realize that that is really jarring for a lot of Brits,” she said.
‘Formality Carries Over’
In the Netflix show, Meghan then further discusses the culture shock she experienced, describing her surprise that the “formality” she found in the royals while in public continued in private.
“I guess I started to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside carried through to the inside,” she said. “That there is a forward-facing way of being and then you close the door, and you go ‘Oh…OK we can relax now.’ But that formality carries over on both sides and that was surprising to me.”
What Prince Harry Said About Meghan and Kate’s First Meeting
In his 2023 memoir, Spare, Harry expanded on Meghan’s account of her first meeting with Kate, describing how both she and William had seemed to like his future wife after introducing them at dinner.
“We’d had them over for dinner during one of Meg’s visits, and Meg cooked, and everything was good,” he wrote. “Willy had a cold: he was sneezing and coughing, and Meg ran upstairs to get him some of her homeopathic cure-alls. Oregano oil, turmeric. He seemed charmed, moved, though Kate announced to the table that he’d never take such unconventional remedies.”
The prince told readers that the group had discussed Wimbledon, which was a shared passion for Meghan and Kate, but did note the contrast in how they were presented.
“The only possibly discordant note I could think of was the marked difference in how the two women dressed, which both of them seemed to notice,” he said. “Meg: ripped jeans, barefoot. Kate: done up to the nines. No big deal, I thought.”
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