When Meghan Markle entered the royal family, everything changed. Prince Harry had hoped that his girlfriend and later wife would become best friends with his sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, and at first, it appeared like it could have been a match made in heaven.

Meghan Markle – relationship with Kate Middleton

Authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand claim in their book Finding Freedom that the two were not exactly feuding at the start. According to them, the two royals just didn’t know each other well enough.

“Meghan would agree with the assessment that the duchesses were not the best of friends,” they wrote. “Their relationship hadn’t progressed much since [Markle] was Harry’s girlfriend.”

Moreover, Durand and Scobie added that Kate didn’t make a significant effort to welcome Markle into the family, at least not in the way people might have expected.

Meghan had hoped that Kate would take her under her wing and guide her through all the new things that someone coming from “outside to the Firm” should know. But the authors claim that never happened.

“Meghan was disappointed that she and Kate hadn’t bonded over the position they shared, but she wasn’t losing sleep over it,” Durand and Scobie wrote in Finding Freedom, adding that “Meghan would far rather have had Kate check in on her during the most difficult times with the press.”

“That was surprising to me”

In their Netflix show, Meghan Markle recalled her first meeting with Kate Middleton — and it wasn’t the most successful.

“When Will and Kate came over, and I met her for the first time, they came over for dinner, I remember I was in ripped jeans, and I was barefoot,” Meghan recalled.

“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 continued, “I guess I started to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside. There is a forward-facing way of being, and then you close the door and go ‘You can relax now’, but that formality carries over on both sides. And that was surprising to me.”

Before Harry and Meghan’s wedding, things heated up between Kate and Meghan. She stated that Kate Middleton had made her cry over the flower girl dresses on her wedding day, which directly contradicted earlier claims made by the tabloids.

“It really hurt my feelings. It was a really hard week of the wedding. And she was upset about something, but she owned it, and she apologized. And she brought me flowers and a note, apologizing,” Meghan said.

“I think so much of what I have seen play out [in the media] is this idea of polarity, where if you love me, you don’t have to hate her. And if you love her, you don’t need to hate me,” she added.

Meghan Markle’s heated argument with Kate Middleton before wedding

Prince Harry further described the heated argument in his book, revealing personal texts Kate Middleton sent his then-soon-to-be wife.

Princess Charlotte was to wear a specific gown as a flower girl at the wedding, which was held at St George’s Chapel on the Windsor grounds.

All the flower girls’ gowns were “French couture,” but none had been fitted before they were crafted. Therefore, Harry wrote that some adjustments were expected.

In his book, Harry wrote that he found his then-bride-to-be “sobbing on the floor” following a text exchange with Kate. Harry claimed that Kate texted Meghan, “Charlotte’s dress is too big, too long, too baggy. She cried when she tried it on at home.”

At first, Harry claimed that Kate didn’t want to meet Meghan’s tailor at Kensington Palace to have the dress fixed. Ultimately, all the bridesmaids’ gowns had to be remade.

Even so, Harry added that “Kate hadn’t meant any harm” with the texts and said that Kate arrived at their home the following day with flowers and a card to apologize.

Following their royal marriage, Harry and Meghan lived at Kensington Palace for a short while. The residence was Prince William and Kate Middleton’s home at the time. They later moved into Nottingham Cottage on the Kensington Palace grounds, but it wasn’t a good match.

Harry was “embarrassed” over living at Nottingham Cottage with Meghan Markle

In his book Spare, Harry explained that he was nervous that the two-bedroom home would not live up to expectations.

“I was excited to welcome Meg to my home, but also embarrassed. Nott Cott was no palace. Nott Cott was palace adjacent – that was the best you could say for it.”

The couple previously spoke about Nottingham Cottage in their Netflix documentary, released in 2022.

“It sounds very regal but Nottingham Cottage was so small,” Meghan Markle said.

Harry added that the property was “lean” with “low ceilings.”

“As far as people were concerned we were living in a palace. [But] we were living in a cottage. On palace grounds. Kensington Palace sounds very regal of course, it does say palace in the name. But Nottingham Cottage was small,” the Duke explained.

The fact that Prince William and Kate Middleton lived in a luxurious home while they weren’t left Meghan “taken aback.”

In the new book Catherine, The Princess of Wales: The Biography, royal expert Robert Jobson writes that the former actress was surprised.

Royal expert claims Kate Middleton was “jealous” over Meghan’s popularity

“Meghan had moved into cosy Nottingham Cottage on the Kensington Palace estate with Harry. When they went to have drinks at William and Catherine’s palatial apartment, she was apparently ‘taken aback’ at the disparity between the brothers,” Jobson wrote in the book, which is being serialized in the Daily Mail.

“‘I am not saying Meghan was jealous, but she was surprised how lavishly Harry’s brother was living compared to where they were living,’ said a close source. ‘It was perhaps the beginning of all the tensions between the couples,’” he continued. “

“Meghan understood, of course, that William was in the direct line of succession, but she felt that Harry, as a royal prince, deserved more than he had.”

But it appears that Meghan Markle wasn’t the only royal family member being jealous. According to Robert Jobson, Prince William and Kate Middleton themselves had problems with how tremendous popular Meghan was.

“At first, public reaction to Meghan was overwhelmingly positive, with ‘the new kids on the block’ hogging most of the headlines – to the point that William and Catherine may have unconsciously raised their game. There were whispers of pettiness, even jealousy,” Jobson claimed.

“Cracks between the two couples continued to widen – with the help of petty slights, whether imagined or otherwise,” he added.

Meghan ready to “sit down” with royal family, expert claims

Whether Harry and Meghan ever will make amends with the royal family—and Prince William and Kate Middleton foremost—is yet to be seen. However, just some weeks ago, a new report suggested that the Duchess is ready to sit down with the royals to find a solution.

Speaking to GB News, royal expert Angela Levin claimed the Duchess is “still genuinely hurt” by how the “royal family treated her.” Still, Meghan is ready to reunite with them to talk about things, the royal expert said.

“She’s still genuinely hurt by how she was treated by the Royal Family – this is four years on,” Levin told GB News. “And she wants to now at last sit down and talk through things.”

Further, Angela Levin claimed that Meghan wants the royal family to “make apologies” to her and Prince Harry.

“We know that means she wants the Royal Family, King Charles and everyone else to make an apology, but they don’t,” she continued. “The person who should apologise is really her, but they don’t want that.”