Cambridge vs Sussex: how the relationship between Harry, William, Meghan and Kate has deteriorated
They were nicknamed the Fab Four, in reference to the group The Beatles, when representing the British Crown at official events. The symbolically united quartet represented by Princes William and Harry, together with their wives Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton, is a boon for the Royal Family, because it attracts sympathy and blows a youthful air in British monarchy.
But the group is gone. The rivalry between the brothers, which is described at length in the book Aside of Prince Harry, the media pressure on Meghan Markle and the press comparisons between the actress and Kate Middleton have damaged their relationship.
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The Marriage of Discord
If, at the time of his first meeting with Meghan Markle, William would have been respectful, as the relationship continues, he will be more hesitant about their idyll, even “dissuasive”, assured Prince Harry in his book. And when the latter expressed a desire to live with his new girlfriend at Frogmore Cottage, the eldest would have guessed: “It’s going too fast Too soon.”
In the announcement of the engagement between Prince Harry and the American actress, on the other hand, William should have been more warm, congratulating the future husband and wishing him happiness. Except when organizing the royal wedding, logistical hiccups can crystallize tensions between the Heir and the Alternate. on Asideprince harry told for example how, within days, his brother william ordered him to shave his beard for the ceremony, even though the queen personally gave him permission to wear it given .
In fact, wrote Prince Harry, the future king has no right to it: “I tell you straight, shave it. ?- For the love of God, Willy, why do you give so much importance to that? Because they ‘ do not allow that I will keep mine.”
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The affair of the bride’s dress
But the disagreement at the wedding that most marked the two clans, and the press, was the event of the dresses of the brides, handmade by a Parisian designer sent to London for the ceremony in May. 19, 2018. One morning, a few days before. on the big day, Kate Middleton reportedly texted Meghan Markle to let her know that Princess Charlotte was floating on hers and needed some touch-ups: “She cried when she tried it on at home,” the Duchess of Cambridge and the current Princess of Wales are reported. wrote. According to Prince Harry, his fiance would have replied to his brother-in-law that, “like all mothers” he just needs to take his daughter Charlotte to the tailor to make the necessary alterations .
But it is reported that Kate Middleton insisted, reminding the bride to count strictly at the altar. Pressed by the Duchess, according to the book, Meghan Markle collapsed “on the ground”, in tears. The day after the argument, “Kate showed up with a bunch of flowers and a note saying she was sorry.”
However, as the prince always stated in his book, the activity would not have stopped there. Shortly after the announcement of the pregnancy of Meghan Markle, pregnant with her first child Archie, a “coup de grace” of the tabloids told her husband: “From the pen of a Crown correspondent, a A story worthy of science fiction described the ‘increasing coldness’ between Kate and Meg and claimed that, according to ‘two sources’, Meg made Kate cry over the bridesmaids’ dresses.
On December 10, 2018, at a dinner with the Sussexes, Kate Middleton said: “I know, Meghan, that I made you cry.” However, in order to “protect the monarchy”, the information was never denied, the young prince regretted. Worse, he could leak after the meal between their father Charles, Camilla, Kate and William and the Duchess of Cambridge was only protected by the palace, when Buckingham denied that the latter attacked his sister-in-law
Kate and William’s stormy tea time
The Fab Four gathered over a tea party held at the home of Kate Middleton and Prince William the month after the wedding. A one-on-one that would have turned into a points settlement. “Kate and Willy were hurt because we didn’t give them Easter presents,” the youngest prince said in his memoir. So the Sussexes responded that they were also disappointed, when they turned their cardboard upside down and therefore changed the plan of their wedding table.
“You’re hurt,” the Duchess of Cambridge reportedly told Meghan Markle, referring to a phone call in which they discussed the wedding rehearsal schedule. “I told you that I don’t remember something, and you replied that it was my hormones. the birth of her third child, George, before the wedding.
Afraid, the actress of Clothes would have apologized, explaining that he said so to “his friends”. To save his wife, Prince William would have pointed the finger: “It’s rude, Meg. Here, in Great Britain, it’s not done.”
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Internal Cold War
These petty tensions can take on such proportions that they taint their respective teams, divided into two families: “The Cambridge team against the Sussex team. Rivalries, Jealousy, competing calendars – all poison the atmosphere.”
Employees, exhausted, struggle to do justice and restore the image of their dedicated couple. “[Ils] read the press, which often created small disputes in the offices. People took sides,” recalled Prince Harry. In the eyes of his older brother, he said, Meghan Markle was responsible for this disorganization, and the excessive demands of the press.
Total of Aside, Prince Harry wrote of his frustration at not being as protected as he would have liked by his family. On the contrary, she wrote, William, angry, confided in her after their father and his wife “created from scratch one or more stories about her, Kate and the children”, with the aim of getting “good press” . If the younger man had tried to compare the situation with his American wife who was targeted by a relentless and merciless press, William would have put him back on the ropes.
This difference in consideration would have destroyed their relationship. Especially because, equally, in the social networks of the royal family, racist and sexist comments against Meghan Markle are not moderate.
Harry and Meghan, alone against the world
That’s why Prince Harry and Meghan Markle hired their own lawyer, on the advice of their friend Elton John, and published an open letter to the tabloids in 2019, breaking royal protocol. In this he compared the wife he was looking for to his mother Lady Diana, who died after being chased by the paparazzi in Paris on August 31, 1997. An initiative that greatly irritated the communication groups of the Palace. At this point, Prince Harry said, his brother firmly believes Meghan Markle is “brainwashing” him.
At the beginning of 2020, the couple announced that they had decided to “step back” from their obligations and renounce their titles of Royal Highnesses. When they left Canada the following year, Harry and Meghan Markle, unlike Prince Andrew who was involved in a sex scandal involving Jeffrey Epstein, also lost their close protection, to their chagrin. “Government decision” can only justify Prince William.
The Sussex couple will then settle in California at the end of 2021.
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Reunion and farewell of two brothers
It was in honor of his grandfather, Prince Philip, who died in April 2021, that Harry set foot in England again and heard from his family. According to him, King Charles III, then Prince of Wales, and his brother William did not care to ask about his family. They seem more interested in the lawsuit he filed against the press for defamation [gagné en 2022 contre le Sun, ndlr].
Despite their discussion, the three members of the royal family would not agree. As Prince Harry waved them away, and left, his brother William “grabbed his collar” by shouting at him: “Listen to me, Harold. Listen! I love you, Harold! I want you. to be happy. ” The eldest would have invoked the name of their dead mother: “Everything that happened made me weak, it hurt me, and … and I swear to you on the life of Mom that I want you to be happy. .” Prince Harry, he would have been wrong not to believe it.
False reconciliations at the funeral of Elizabeth II
Finally, in September 2022, while he was traveling in Great Britain, Harry received a call from his father telling him that the state of health of Queen Elizabeth II had seriously deteriorated. Prince Harry, who did not expect the rest of the royal family to announce the sovereign’s death, sent a text to William “to ask him if he and Kate were planning to fly” to be at the bedside. the monarch, at Balmoral Castle.
A message that should not have been answered assured the author. The prince would have decided to take a private flight, alone. When the plane started to descend he heard the news: “A text message from Meg. BBC. Grandma left. Dad is king.”
At the castle, he was welcomed by his aunt Princess Anne, but he could not meet King Charles II, or his older brother, or even Kate Middleton, he trusted. Aside. He will also return to Frogmore alone, taking a British Airways flight.
At their grandmother’s funeral, the two brothers only exchanged “a few words”, but still showed themselves to be welded, sporting a reconciliation facade. The release of Prince Harry’s memoirs, especially the accusations against William, but also the Netflix documentary Harry and Meghan certainly did not help the brotherly relationship between them. They will meet again on the occasion of the coronation of their father, King Charles III, on May 6, 2023.
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