‘Kate isn’t petty’: How Meghan’s return could heal royal wives’ feud

They’re back. Perhaps not being welcomed at the Palace gates by heralding trumpets, or even a state banquet – but quietly, somewhere in Harry’s homeland, the Sussexes are establishing an alternative court. Their children are already enrolled in school and Meghan is reportedly eyeing a return to acting. Whether the British public will welcome them back remains to be seen, but far more important is whether they can broker a reconciliation with the Royal Family. If the King’s statement was strained, the silence from the Prince and Princess of Wales has been louder. The gulf between the former “Fab Four” never looked wider. “It’s not a row that’s going to be healed any time soon,” says Simon Vigar, Channel 5’s royal correspondent and author of The Four Wives of Windsor. He attended the famous “Fab Four” event in 2018, but says “it’s very hard to imagine an event like that ever happening again, at least anytime soon”. Shorts Six years across the ocean in Montecito has now been reduced to just a county’s distance – the Cotswolds (the Sussexes) to Norfolk (the Waleses). As royal watchers wait to see if the warring brothers can call a truce, as pertinent is whether the royal sisters-in-law’s rift can be healed. Long before he met Meghan, Harry and Kate enjoyed a very close relationship and, experts claim, he wanted that closeness to be replicated between his then beloved sister-in-law and his girlfriend. But the differences between the two women soon came into focus, despite their best efforts to put on a united front at events like Wimbledon where they were pictured together in the royal box. Meghan herself has admitted in the couple’s Netflix series that her first introduction to Kate was awkward, recounting: “I was a hugger, I have always been a hugger. I didn’t realise that is really jarring for a lot of Brits. “I started to understand that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside… and that was surprising to me.” The pre-wedding rows that fractured Kate and Meghan’s relationship have been widely aired. Meghan and Kate enjoyed social occasions including attending Wimbledon before their relationship became strained (Photo: Visionhaus/Getty) In the run up to Harry and Meghan’s 2018 May nuptials there were reports of disagreements over whether the bridesmaids should wear tights, apparently important to protocol-conscious Kate but not free-spirited Meghan. In his book, Revenge, royal biographer Tom Bower claims unnamed sources told him the pair also disagreed over the style of Princess Charlotte’s dress. Reports later claimed the row left Kate in tears. All of which could perhaps have remained private, except that Meghan told Oprah the Princess of Wales made her cry over the incident. As author of The New Royals, Katie Nicholl, notes: “Meghan and Catherine are incredibly different people and were from the outset. “Harry really wanted this special friendship between his girlfriend and with his sister-in-law, who he adored.” “Initially Kate tried really hard to be friends with Meghan, even if William was wary. But it very quickly became apparent how different they are: Meghan from her sunny Californian background and Kate far more British and reserved”. ‘Reconciliation is on Harry’s agenda’ Still, Nicholl considers such disagreements the least of the sisters-in-law’s problems. “Kate is many things, but she isn’t petty,” she says, believing it was the claims Meghan made to Oprah about a family member’s comments on Archie’s skin colour that “the Royal Family and Kate won’t get over as easily”. “I’m sure a reconciliation is on Harry’s agenda,” says Nicholl, “He’s managed to get the King’s ear, he had the Highgrove summit. But winning William over is going to be much harder”.Yet, Nicholl doesn’t rule out a reconciliation eventually. “If this move back to the UK is a long-term move by the Sussexes then the Waleses won’t have much option. The Royal Family are role models and William is in line to be the head of the Church of England, which means he must embody forgiveness and compassion”. Vigar agrees peace has to be called eventually for the sake of the wider family, and indeed the monarchy – though he sees one obstacle: “I don’t think the Sussexes believe they have an apology to make.” Children could bring them together “It’ll never go back to the way it was between William and Harry,” he adds. “[But] as much as anything for the King and his grandchildren – it’d be weird if Lilibet and Archie didn’t get to know their cousins and perhaps in the end the children coming together will be the unifying thing”. Meghan and Harry, pictured here in 2022, are expected to step up their public appearances in the UK (Photo: Oli Scarff/Getty) Andrew Lownie, author of Entitled, agrees: “The Waleses are pragmatic and dignified and they will do what is necessary to reconcile to preserve the monarchy.” “Opening gambits for reconciliation will depend on what happens over the next few months,” he thinks, adding that the “Sussexes know they need to win back the trust of the British people and will be on best behaviour”. According to recent polling by YouGov, William and Kate have the highest public favourability ratings of anyone in the Royal Family (with net approval ratings of 60 per cent and 61 per cent respectively). Meanwhile, the public still holds negative opinions of Harry and Meghan, who hold favourability ratings of -25 per cent and -43 per cent. Public relations expert Mark Borkowski believes ultimately it will be worth the Sussexes’ effort to make peace happen because, “a reconciliation is worth more to Meghan”. “Kate never loses out because she has her future path plotted – she’s going to be queen of England,” Borkowski says. “What Meghan wants is to make a difference, and if she can heal the rift here then ultimately she can straddle both the UK and America in a way Kate can’t.“If Meghan can be accepted by the institution, even if she isn’t in it, then she can make a real difference, which is what she has always wanted.”