Prince William reportedly took a veiled swipe at Meghan Markle during a Royal event that was also attended by Prince Harry and Kate Middleton, according to a Royal expert.
The incident occurred a few months before Harry and Meghan’s wedding, when the couple joined William and Kate on stage for the launch of the Royal Foundation Forum – marking Meghan’s first appearance as a “working royal.”
Fans were quick to label the group “The Fab Four” as they appeared all smiles on stage.
However, Richard Eden, the Daily Mail’s Diary Editor, suggests there had been a backstage tension revealing a stark contrast between Kate and Meghan’s personalities – and a potential rift within the Royal Family.
Speaking on the Royal Confidential podcast, he said: “We later learned from Prince Harry’s book Spare that there had been an awkward moment backstage when Meghan had asked to borrow Katherine’s lip gloss. He describes how Katherine was taken aback by this, but eventually found some and grimaced when Megan squeezed some out.”
Richard remembered how Meghan used the event to strongly endorse the Me Too and Times Up campaigns, championing female empowerment.
“Honourable causes but a clear potential clash with politicians which is the last thing the Royal Family want,” he noted.
“You do wonder if a line in William’s speech, where he said ‘The task for us would not be to reinvent the wheel’ could have been aimed at his soon-to-be sister-in-law.
The Royal Family’s culture is deeply rooted in a reluctance to stir up controversy, reports Cambridge Live. This sentiment was echoed by Princess Anne, William’s aunt, who cautioned younger royals against change, sating that attempts to modernise royal behaviour had already been tried, and warned would-be reformers to “not reinvent that wheel”.
Richard noted the clear tension between tradition and modernity at the historic event, evident from the strained expressions on the faces of some young royals. He added: “At the time the optimists among us put the strained expressions and false smiles down to nerves or at worst teething difficulties but as we’ll find out things really were bad – and about to get worse.”
A now-infamous moment during the event saw the foursome seemingly addressing the beginnings of their feud. When asked if there were ever any disagreements among them, William responded with a firm “Yes,” while Harry quickly added that they were “healthy” disagreements.
William elaborated: “We’ve got four different personalities and we’ve got the same passions to make a difference, but different opinions. I think those opinions work really really well.
Richard said that tension between ancient and modern at that historic event was clear from the expressions on some of the young royals’ faces. He continued: “Working as a family does have its challenges and the fact that everyone is laughing shows they know exactly what it’s like. We’re stuck together for the rest of our lives.
