Duke of Sussex's TV accusation that Kate and William 'stereotyped' his wife adds to 'baby brain' anecdote he tells in his book
As the Princess of Wales turns 41 on Monday she could undoubtedly think back to better birthdays.
Having been on the receiving end of a number of broadsides from the brother-in-law who once called her “the sister I never had”, Kate could be forgiven for thinking she has little to celebrate.
Accused by Harry of encouraging him to wear a Nazi uniform to a fancy dress party in 2005, the mother of three has been depicted as cold and unfeeling in his autobiography Spare, which has already been published in Spain.
And now, in an interview with ITV’s Tom Brady, Harry has accused Kate and William of “stereotyping” Meghan as a divorced, biracial American actress.
“I don’t think they were ever expecting me to get – or to become – to get into a relationship with – with someone like Meghan who had a very successful career,” he said. “Some of the way that they were acting or behaving definitely felt to me as though unfortunately that stereotyping was causing a bit of a barrier to them really… welcoming her in.”
Throughout the interview, Harry suggests that his brother and sister-in-law were influenced by the media in their opinion of his wife, saying: “If you are reading the press, the British tabloids, at the same time as living the life, then there is a tendency where you could actually end up living in the tabloid bubble rather than the actual reality.”
Yet when she first arrived on the royal scene, the press was largely effusive about Meghan.
By the couple’s own admission on Netflix, “everything changed” after their May 2018 wedding. He blames the palace for “leaking and briefing” – yet the truth is hundreds of people were involved in the nuptials at Windsor Castle who could have said anything to anyone.
Hence the months that followed witnessed a string of stories about tiaras, bridesmaids dresses and such like. Unbeknown to the press – that period also coincided with staff lodging a bullying complaint about Meghan in October 2018.
It would be another two and a half years before the press found out about it. In Spare, Harry accuses William of “parroting the media” in describing Meghan as “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”, during the dog bowl incident.
He tells Brady: “So much of the relationship between me and William and the way it played out was because of the narrative, or the – the distorted narrative that was being pushed through the British press. And some people within his office that were feeding him utter nonsense.”
So it seems that if William was “parroting” anyone, it was disgruntled employees.
Harry admits “very quickly it became Meghan versus Kate,” suggesting the press – and palace – put the two women in competition with each other.
While there may be some truth to that, what Harry appears unwilling to acknowledge is Meghan’s desire to be put on a level footing with a woman much higher up the royal hierarchy.
This was in evidence as far back as February 2018, when the two couples appeared together on-stage for the Royal Foundation’s Forum.
The joint engagement, where the quartet were first dubbed “the Fab Four”, highlighted the Sussexes’ desire to be seen as equals, with Meghan seemingly keen to dominate the conversation.
Asked whether they had “disagreements about things,” William gave a knowing laugh and said: “Oh yes”. Harry then interjected: “Working as family does have its challenges, of course it does.”
Thanks to Harry’s memoir we now have confirmation that there was indeed a row over Meghan’s tiara – the story which originally sparked reports of “tensions” behind palace gates towards the end of 2018.
He denies saying: “What Meghan wants Meghan gets!” but his account corroborates reports he was at odds with the Queen’s closest aide, Angela Kelly.
Harry describes the bridesmaids dress story which followed a few weeks later as “sci fi” and yet it was clearly far from fantasy, despite recollections varying as to who was left in tears.
And we have learned from the book that a month after the wedding, Kate apparently demanded an apology from Meghan after she suggested she had “baby brain”.
Contrary to making everything up – the press was on to something.
Perhaps the biggest irony of all is that, from briefing against them, much of the palace press office’s time was then spent defending Harry and Meghan against all the negative publicity.
We rely on advertising to help fund our award-winning journalism.
We urge you to turn off your ad blocker for The Telegraph website so that you can continue to access our quality content in the future.
Thank you for your support.
Need help?
Visit our adblocking instructions page.