As we continue to discuss, Robert Lacey’s Battle of Brothers: William and Harry – The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult might actually end up reframing the conversation around Prince Harry, Prince William and the Sussexit. While Lacey often talks out of both sides of his mouth, he has maintained throughout that the crux of all the drama was always between Harry and William and NOT Kate and Meghan. Which most of us have known this whole time. If the brothers had been able to get along, I genuinely think that Kate and Meghan’s fragile peace probably would have held. Kate actually liked the fact that Meghan was her protocol-breaking foil, the proverbial darkness to Kate’s “perfect future queen” lightness. Plus, Kate enjoyed the competition and she enjoyed copying Meghan. Lacey spoke about the duchesses’ relationship with Best Life:
As part of his wide-ranging interview with Best Life, Lacey revealed, “Catherine and Meghan are great pragmatists. They got on much better than people gave them credit for.” In his book, he notes the women may not have been “best buddy material,” but says that “each was far too canny to make an enemy of a prospective sister-in-law—it only made sense to be friends.”
Despite their differences, the duchesses shared an important commonality as outsiders marrying into royalty that, according to Lacey, allowed them to appreciate and understand each other’s strengths in a way that was never really conveyed by the tabloids. “They both have a healthy respect for each other alongside great loyalty to their respective partners,” he told Best Life.
Still, Lacey explained, the “emotional squabbles,” like the much-reported battle over the bridesmaids’ tights at Meghan’s wedding (Kate felt the girls should follow tradition and wear them, while the bride insisted they go bare-legged) gave the media plenty of fodder. “Meghan clearly ‘won,’” said Lacey. “The press resorted to stereotypes [about Meghan and Kate] to avoid the fear of the truth [about William and Harry].”
The stories of the dust-ups between the duchesses continued, despite their best efforts to keep up appearances—even up until that very last day when the former “Fab Four” came together in March for Commonwealth Day services at Westminster Abbey, marking the Sussexes’ final appearance as senior royals. While waiting for Queen Elizabeth to arrive, Meghan flashed her megawatt smile for the cameras and Kate chatted easily with Sophie Wessex. “Every time the women got together, they knew how to put on a good performance,” said Lacey. “Kate is just as good an actress as Meghan.”
Yeah, I agree? Meghan and Kate were always able to put in appearances with each other and I’m sure Kate loved the idea that she was being positioned as “the peacemaker.” That being said, Kate implicitly and explicitly threw Meghan to the wolves. It wasn’t Buckingham Palace or Clarence House insisting on that f–king “Meghan made Kate cry!” story. Kate wanted everyone to know that Meghan makes white women cry white tears. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Kate in particular was behind several of the bigger tabloid stories about Meghan.
