Kate Middleton and Prince Willaim are said to have made a kind last-minute gesture during Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s final engagement as senior members of the royal family. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped away from the royal family back in 2020.
During the 2020 Commonwealth Day service, Harry and Meghan “became emotional and upset” after they were not allowed to join the senior royals in the main VIP party. The two were expected to make their own way to the front of Westminster Abbey, where they were to wait for the other members of the royal family to arrive.
In an attempt to diffuse the tension, Kate and her husband, William, reportedly offered to join the Sussexes as they waited for the Queen to arrive. Things, however, did not really go to plan as 2,000 orders of service that had already been printed stipulated that the Prince and Princess of Wales would arrive with the other members of the royal family.
The two couples later reportedly exchanged brief and uncomfortable greetings before taking their seats in the Abbey. Despite the Waleses’ peace offering, things remained cold.
‘The frayed relationships could not be concealed’
The year before that, Kate and Meghan greeted each other with a peck on the cheek, both looking warmer. In the book Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War between the Windsors, royal author Tom Bower said that a “monumental argument” had taken place after “palace officials … decided to publicly humiliate [Harry and Meghan].”
“Reality hit two days later, on 9th March. A monumental argument blew up after Harry was told that he and Meghan could not join the family’s procession through Westminster Abbey for the annual Commonwealth Day Service,” Bower wrote. “Although the order of service listed Harry and Meghan walking behind the Queen, Palace officials had revised their decision. Suspicious about the Sussexes they decided to publicly humiliate them.”
He added, “Harry was told that having stepped down from royal duties, he and Meghan would sit and wait with the congregation. The prospect of the televised image of their isolation in the Abbey appalled them.”
Bower suggested that William “had not offered a brotherly welcome” to Harry, and Kate was “outright distant” towards Meghan. “Eventually, to end the dispute, William and Kate agreed they too would wait with Harry and Meghan. As the members of the Royal Family filed into the Abbey, the frayed relationships could not be concealed,” he added.
