Meghan Markle today claimed in her interview with Oprah Winfrey that the Duchess of Cambridge made her cry before she married Prince Harry.
But the Duchess of Sussex also insisted that she has now forgiven Kate Middleton and said she bought her flowers to apologise about the incident.
Meghan, 39, was asked about a row with Prince William’s wife that made headlines around the world after a falling out over dresses for the flowergirls.
Meghan then denied making Kate, also 39, cry before her wedding, which took place at Windsor Castle in May 2018, and said the opposite had happened.
The Duchess of Cambridge with Princess Charlotte and other bridesmaids arriving at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan in May 2018
Harry and Meghan leave St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle after their wedding in May 2018
Oprah asked Meghan: ‘Was there a situation where she (Kate) might have cried? Or she could have cried?’
But the Duchess of Sussex replied: ‘No, no. The reverse happened. And I don’t say that to be disparaging to anyone, because it was a really hard week of the wedding. And she was upset about something, but she owned it, and she apologised.
‘And she brought me flowers and a note, apologising. And she did what I would do if I knew that I hurt someone, right, to just take accountability for it.’
Meghan added that it was ‘shocking’ that the ‘reverse of that would be out in the world’.
William, Kate, Harry and Meghan at the Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey in March 2020
She continued: ‘A few days before the wedding, she was upset about something pertaining – yes, the issue was correct – about flower girl dresses, and it made me cry, and it really hurt my feelings.
‘And I thought, in the context of everything else that was going on in those days leading to the wedding, that it didn’t make sense to not be just doing whatever everyone else was doing, which was trying to be supportive, knowing what was going on with my dad and whatnot.’
Meghan also said: ‘It wasn’t a confrontation, and I actually think it’s… I don’t think it’s fair to her to get into the details of that, because she apologised.
‘What was hard to get over was being blamed for something that not only I didn’t do but that happened to me.
The Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Sussex in the Royal Box on Centre Court at Wimbledon in July 2019
‘And the people who were part of our wedding were going to our comms team and saying: ‘I know this didn’t happen. I don’t have to tell them what actually happened’.’
Meghan also said reports she had reduced the Duchess of Cambridge to tears were a ‘turning point.
The Duchess said ‘everyone in the institution knew that wasn’t true’ and she hoped Kate ‘would have wanted that to be corrected’, adding ‘she is a good person’.
Meghan was also asked whether a trip to watch tennis at Wimbledon with the Duchess of Cambridge was ‘what it looked like … helping you adjust’.
The Duchess of Cambridge (left) and the Duchess of Sussex (right) stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in London during Trooping The Colour on June 9, 2018
But the Duchess replied: ‘My understanding of the past four years is it’s nothing like what it looks like.’
Meghan also revealed she and Harry were married by the Archbishop of Canterbury three days before the formal ceremony.
The interview also saw Harry reveal that Charles ‘stopped taking my calls’ during the build-up to the announcement that he and Meghan were leaving the Royal Family.
Oprah asked ‘did you blindside the Queen?’ with the announcement they were leaving the family, but Harry replied: ‘No, I would never blindside my grandmother, I have too much respect for her.’
(From left) The Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, the Duchess of Cambridge, the Duchess of Sussex and the Duke of Sussex arriving to attend the Christmas Day morning church service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, Norfolk, in December 2018
Asked where that story came from, Harry said he could ‘hazard a guess’ that it may have come ‘from within the institution’.
Asked by Oprah how they knew the Queen was not blindsided, Harry said while in Canada he had ‘three conversations with my grandmother and two conversations with my father, before he stopped taking my calls’.
He said Charles asked for him to put his plan ‘in writing’. Harry said he had to act for the wellbeing of himself, Meghan and Archie.
Speaking about his father, Harry added: ‘I feel really let down because he’s been through something similar, he knows what pain feels like, (and) Archie’s his grandson.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s interview with Oprah Winfrey aired in the US on Sunday
‘But at the same time – I will always love him – but there’s a lot of hurt that’s happened and I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try and heal that relationship.
‘But they only know what they know, or what they’re told.’
Asked about his relationship with his older brother, Harry said: ‘I love William to bits, he’s my brother, we’ve been through hell together, we have a shared experience, but we were on different paths.’
Harry also said he felt ‘trapped’ while in the royal family, and his father and brother are also ‘trapped’.