Inside Prince William and Meghan Markle’s first meeting amid ongoing Royal tensions

Meghan Markle was nervous about meeting Prince William for the first time and thought he would grill her with lots of questions, but his opening line was actually very kind

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Meghan in a blue dress, William and Harry in military dress
When Meghan and William first met, she was impressed by her future brother-in-law

Meghan Markle was unsure of what to expect when meeting Prince William. She anticipated a grilling and numerous questions about her intentions, but she couldn’t have been more wrong.

Prince William was quite laid-back, and his welcoming opening line was revealed in the book ‘Finding Freedom’ by Royal biographers Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, reports the Mirror.

When Prince Harry introduced Meghan to him, William said: “I was looking forward to meeting the girl who has put that silly grin on my brother’s face.”

However, subsequent meetings didn’t go as smoothly. In their Netflix documentary, ‘Harry and Meghan’, the Duchess reminisced about an early awkward encounter with Kate Middleton.

Meghan recalled: “When Will and Kate came over and I met her for the first time they came over for dinner. I remember I was in ripped jeans and I was barefoot. I’ve always been a hugger, I didn’t realise that that is really jarring for a lot of Brits.”

William, Meghan and Harry in formal wear
Meghan and Harry were introduced by friends and got married on May 19, 2018
She added: “I guess I started to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside. There is a forward-facing way of being, and then you close the door and go ‘You can relax now’, but that formality carries over on both sides. And that was surprising to me.”

Harry revealed more about the tension between the women in his life in his memoir Spare, recounting a dispute over bridesmaid dresses before his wedding that left Meghan in tears. He described how Kate ‘grimaced’ when Meghan borrowed her lip gloss and detailed an incident where Kate demanded an apology from Meghan after suggesting she had ‘baby brain’ following Prince Louis’s birth.

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The rift between William and Harry, which has become widely known, reportedly began around Christmas 2018. Harry believed William was not welcoming Meghan into the family sufficiently.

Royal author Katie Nicholl commented: “Harry felt William wasn’t rolling out the red carpet for Meghan and told him so.”

Royal commentator Tom Quinn noted that William and Kate attempted to mend bridges by inviting Meghan and Harry, who had relocated to California, to visit the UK with their children, Archie and Lilibet. However, Meghan declined the offer.

The ongoing estrangement appears to have no end in sight, with one author telling the Mirror earlier this year: “The fallout has gone on far too long but both men are notoriously stubborn,” adding, “William feels that the Royal family has been badly damaged by his brother and Harry feels that William has always treated him as an irrelevance.”

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