The Gist

• Kate Middleton and Prince William reportedly felt “pettiness” and “jealousy” toward Meghan Markle when she first stepped onto the royal scene.

• Royal expert Robert Jobson suggested the couple may have “unconsciously raised their game” to compete with Meghan’s “overwhelmingly positive” public reception.

• Jobson recalled an incident that highlighted Kate’s alleged distaste of Meghan.

Kate Middleton and Prince William first captured the world’s hearts when they started dating in 2002, holding the spotlight as dating became marriage and marriage led to children. That is, until Prince Harry introduced a new love, Meghan Markle, in his life in July 2016, and attention began to shift away from William and Kate. According to a royal expert, the married couple wasn’t too happy about losing public focus.

Robert Jobson explored the quartet’s evolution from close-knit Fab Four to their eventual royal rift in Catherine, the Princess of Wales: A Biography of the Future Queen, released in August 2024. He suggested that the tabloid focus on Meghan may have led to discontent among the Prince and Princess of Wales.

“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,” he wrote. The drama was just the beginning and paved the way for the royal four’s greater issues. “Cracks between the two couples continued to widen—with the help of petty slights, whether imagined or otherwise,” Jobson added.

Jobson recalled an incident that highlighted Kate’s alleged distaste of Meghan. “There was the time Meghan asked to borrow some lip gloss, and Harry felt Catherine had handed hers over reluctantly,” he claimed. “According to him, Catherine ‘grimaced’ after Meghan had squeezed some onto a finger and applied it to her lips.”

And where Kate and Meghan’s trouble began, Harry and William’s relationship with each other also began to falter. “Inevitably, details leaked of the royal brothers’ troubled relationship, and the fact that Catherine and Meghan had also fallen out,” the expert added.

William, Kate, Harry, and Meghan remain estranged. Harry reportedly feels guilt over being unable to reconcile with Kate, while Meghan feels that Kate should be the first to apologize. The brothers are also still on the outs with each other.

“[Harry] really misses that warm, uncomplicated relationship, and he is torn between loyalty to his wife and regret about the loss of the woman he was so close to,” royal author Tom Quinn told The Mirror. “Losing Kate was Harry’s second great loss after losing his mother.”

The four did not reunite when Harry, Meghan, and their two kids, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, visited the U.K. in July.

Read the original article on InStyle