Meghan Markle "Hated the Comparisons" With Kate Middleton: Author

The Royal Family Attend Church On Christmas Day

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When Meghan Markle was preparing to join the Royal Family, many were rooting for her and Kate Middleton to forge a sisterly alliance. Others, on the other hand, found it all too easy to pit the two women against each other.

Sadly, it sounds like the latter camp's predictions turned out to be the most accurate: Since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex' royal exit, there has famously been a certain amount of tension between Princes William and Harry especially, with their wives presumably siding at least somewhat with their respective husbands.

Although the Duchess of Cambridge has been reported to try to mend the relationship between her husband and his brother, perhaps the most notable sign of tension between her and her California-based counterpart was when Markle admitted that Middleton had made her cry ahead of her 2018 wedding, during the 2021 Oprah interview.

Now, an explosive upcoming biography by no-holds-barred royal author Tom Bower is shedding light on some of the feelings that may have been happening behind the scenes when the Sussexes were still working royals.

In an excerpt of Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsors published by The Times, Bower writes, "No other member of the royal family had suffered as much embarrassment from their own family as Meghan. There was some equivalence in Meghan’s contempt for her half-siblings, Samantha and Thomas, and now Harry’s for Kate and William, in particular.

"The Cambridges, she believed, were failing to offer the recognition and generosity she deserved. She hated the comparisons with uncomplaining Kate. Effortlessly, the Cambridges appeared to be perfect. Meghan appeared to be influenced by envy of Kate. In turn, the future queen regarded her neighbour as dismissive."

I've never met either duchess, and I can't speak to their character or behavior behind the scenes, but I will observe that Bower is known for unbridled criticism, and that his consistent use of negative adjectives to describe Markle and positive ones to describe Middleton works to create a specific and one-sided impression of the two women. With that, I'll leave you to make up your own mind.

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Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.