A royal expert is putting in their two cents about Prince Harry's comments about Kate Middleton (Princess Kate) per her recent cancer diagnosis. Harry noted in Spare, which was released in January 2023, that there was tension at a royal engagement that he, Prince William, Meghan Markle, and Princess Kate attended together. Markle had definitive support of the #MeToo movement — a social movement that highlights wrongdoing and brings awareness to sexual assault, rape, and sexual harassment — whereas Princess Kate did not get into the “controversy” of the movement at the time.
“I think it had Kate on edge, while putting her and everyone else on notice that she was now going to be compared to, and forced to compete with, Meg,” he wrote in the book.
One of the largest tiffs between Meghan and Kate was the bridesmaid dress debacle. It was spread that Meghan made Kate cry over the dresses prior to Meghan and Harry's 2018 wedding while Meghan said in her interview with Oprah that the opposite occurred.
“Kate got things rolling straightaway by acknowledging that these stories in the papers about Meg making her cry were totally false,” he wrote, adding that Kate did eventually apologize: “‘I know, Meghan, that I was the one who made you cry.”
However, a story never was made to correct the rumor.
“Why haven’t they phoned this execrable woman who wrote this story, and demanded a retraction? Kate, flustered, didn’t answer, and Willy chimed in with some very supportive-sounding evasions, but I already knew the truth. No one at the Palace could phone the correspondent, because that would invite the inevitable retort: Well, if the story’s wrong, what’s the real story? What did happen between the two duchesses? And that door must never be opened, because it would embarrass the future queen,” he wrote.
What A Royal Expert Thinks About Prince Harry's Comments Amid Princess Kate's Cancer Battle
Tessa Dunlop, a royal expert told Us Weekly that it is in the best interest of Harry and Meghan to really think about when or if they choose to announce new projects.
“They deliberately criticize the monarchy [and then offer] themselves as an alternative to monarchy. So then when the monarchy is in trouble, we do kind of make a comparison. Can Harry and Meghan really hold themselves off as the caring example now?” she asked. “They’re certainly going to have to be careful of their timing with any releases so that it doesn’t look opportunistic.”
She added that his comments in Spare hit a bit different now regarding Kate's recent cancer diagnosis.
“When you do discover that your sister-in-law has cancer and you’ve written stuff that can’t be retracted, that’s quite a painful place to be in.”
“In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London and at the time, it was thought that my condition was noncancerous,” she said in a video posted via social media. “However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present.”
“We wish health and healing for Kate and the family, and hope they are able to do so privately and in peace,” Harry and Meghan said in a statement.