How Meghan Markle Tried to Ease Tensions With Kate Middleton

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle walked away from royal life earlier this year; their final royal engagement was at the annual Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey. According to the new book Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family, it was clear that Kate Middleton and Prince William still had some tension with Harry and Meghan.

“A lot of damage has been done,” co-author Omid Scobie told People. Scobie and his co-author Carolyn Durand write that Kate and William have never been close with Meghan. The authors report that Meghan and Harry felt that Kate and William snubbed them at the Commonwealth service.

They also write that things have never been very warm among the “fab four.” But after meeting the Cambridges, Meghan did two things to ease the tension: She gave Kate a soft leather Smythson notebook for her birthday. She also apparently had a close relationship with Charlotte.

Although tabloids pitted Meghan and Kate against each other with stories of their rift, Scobie and Durand said they were “not at war with each other.” Instead, they write, “there were some awkward moments.”

The weirdness apparently started with a conversation William had with Harry early on in his courtship with Meghan. A source told Durand and Scobie that William cautioned Harry to take his relationship with Meghan at a slow pace. “Don’t feel like you need to rush this. Take as much time as you need to get to know this girl.” Harry reportedly took offense to William calling Meghan “this girl.”

“Harry was pissed off,” another source told the authors. “Pissed off that his brother would ask such a thing. Some felt it was an overreaction. But then, this totally sums them up as people—William the calm and rational one, and Harry, who can’t help but take things far too personally.”

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