Royal author Valentine Low’s new book Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown is shedding more light on Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle’s strained relationship following reports of an argument over a bridesmaid fitting before the Sussexes’ royal wedding.
A little background real quick: Meghan spoke about the incident during her bombshell interview with Oprah, explaining that the palace refused to correct reports that she’d made Kate cry, when in fact the opposite happened.
“The reverse happened,” Meghan told Oprah. “And I don’t say that to be disparaging to anyone, because it was a really hard week of the wedding and she was upset about something.” She added that Kate “owned it, and she apologized and she brought me flowers and a note apologizing.”
The duchess went onto explain, “I’m not sharing that piece about Kate in any way to be disparaging to her. I think it’s really important for people to understand the truth.…I would hope she would’ve wanted that corrected and maybe in the same way that the palace wouldn’t let anyone else negate it, they wouldn’t let her because she’s a good person.”
And now an excerpt of Low’s book (published in the Daily Mail, via The Sun) confirms that the palace did, in fact, refuse to correct reporting about the incident. The book additionally claims that Meghan tried to “persuade the palace press office to put something out denying the story.”
As Meghan already explained, the palace denied her request, and Low notes that they were “equally adamant that it would be a serious mistake to start briefing about personal stories relating to differences between members of the royal family.” He continued, “Not only did they not want to brief against other royals, but they feared it would create a precedent, making it harder in future for them to avoid commenting on personal tittle-tattle.”
Apparently, the palace’s refusal to comment “became a major point of contention between Meghan and her media advisers,” so it’s not exactly surprising that Meghan chose to take matters into her own hands and set the record straight during her sit-down with Oprah.
