Prince Harry has revealed new details about the early tensions between himself, Meghan Markle, and the Prince and Princess of Wales, claiming he felt cornered by Prince William and Kate Middleton following his marriage.
In his memoir Spare, the Duke of Sussex recounts a pivotal 2018 meeting at Nottingham Cottage — the modest home he and Meghan shared on the grounds of Kensington Palace — when the newlyweds invited William and Kate for tea in an attempt to ease growing tensions.
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“For 10 minutes, we did the classic small talk. How are the kids? How was your honeymoon?” Harry writes, describing the start of what was meant to be a cordial visit. But the conversation soon took a more serious turn. According to Harry, Meghan took the initiative to address the awkwardness that had been building between the couple.
“Meg then acknowledged the tension among the four of us and ventured that it might go back to those early days when she’d first joined the family — a misunderstanding that had almost passed without notice,” he shares. “Kate thought Meg had wanted her fashion contacts. But Meg had her own.”
Harry admits that this early miscommunication may have been the start of a larger issue, one that grew more intense over time, particularly around the wedding, reports the Mirror.
“They’d got off on the wrong foot perhaps? And then, Meg added, everything got magnified by the wedding, and those infernal bridesmaids’ dresses,” he continues, referencing the much-publicized row involving Princess Charlotte’s dress for the royal wedding.
However, the Duke reveals another, more surprising source of irritation for William and Kate: Easter gifts. “But it turned out there were other things… about which we’d been unaware. Willy and Kate were apparently upset that we hadn’t given them Easter presents,” Harry writes, with an air of disbelief. “Easter presents? Was that a thing?”
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The anecdote adds to a growing list of grievances and misunderstandings that, according to Harry, created a deepening rift within the family. His book has laid bare many of the personal tensions and cultural clashes between the Sussexes and other senior royals, often painting a picture of emotional isolation and miscommunication.
As the public continues to digest the revelations in Spare, this particular chapter offers a glimpse into how even minor misunderstandings and unmet expectations — such as a missed Easter gift — can snowball into lasting estrangement at the heart of Britain’s most famous family.
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