Duchesses to spend Christmas together despite royal rift rumours

A royal rift will make for tense times at the Queen’s family festive get-together as rumours continue to circulate about a feud between Meghan Markle, the new Duchess of Sussex, and Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge.

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When the Duchesses of Cambridge and Sussex pass the egg nog around the Christmas tree, reports have it that the atmosphere will be as thick as the brandy butter on the royal pudding.

While Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has been the darling of the public since her marriage to Prince Harry — boosted by their stunning tour Down Under and news of her pregnancy — reports have been circulating about her high-handedness with staff and a froideur between her and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge.

It’s said Kate even had to tick off Meghan for her behaviour, amid news that the former TV star had lost three key members of her team in six months — one of them being reduced to tears.

There has been talk that Meghan and Kate do not get on. Picture: Clive Mason/Getty

But this week, a rare statement from Buckingham Palace denied Kate had upbraided the new royal Meghan.

“This never happened,” it said tersely.

While the statement laid to rest the ghost of alleged conduct past, it failed to address speculation about the rift between the two women.

A palace insider confirmed Kate and Meghan “are two very different people” and conspicuous by its absence in the statement was any denial of the pair’s reported antipathy.

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Adding fuel to the fire came news that Harry and Meghan will be putting more than 30km between them and Prince William and Kate when they move from their cosy den-next-door at Kensington Palace to Frogmore House in the grounds of Windsor Castle.

Prince Harry and his pregnant bride are said to be moving away from where Prince William and Kate live. Picture: Owen Humphreys/AFP

Initial reports stated the two couples would spend the festive season apart — Kate and William at her parents’ manor in Berkshire and Harry and Meghan with the Queen and the rest of the family in Norfolk, where the royals traditionally gather.

But both women will, in fact, be guests of the Queen — along with their husbands and the rest of the royals — at Sandringham House.

That the two women are, indeed, very different comes as no surprise. Kate has been groomed into royal life since her teens, after meeting William at university, never truly having held down a “proper” job before she married William (other than a stint in a family friend’s clothing company and with her parents’ Party Pieces business).

The younger royals will all spend Christmas together with Queen Elizabeth II. Picture: Dominic Lipinski/AFP

British royal commentator Claudia Joseph tells BW Magazine: “Kate is a middle-class girl who has grown up in Britain, been to a top private school and mixed with the upper echelons of society.”

She just knows how things are done inside the palace.

Meghan, meanwhile, grew up in California as a free-spirited, yoga-loving activist and feminist, who became a famous actor in the kind of flashy world where the constrained social tones of the royals and their courtiers would have been utterly alien.

Tension arose last Christmas when a “ghastly row” broke out between the couples when Harry and Meghan stayed at William and Kate’s house, Anmer Hall, on the Sandringham estate.

Kate found Meghan’s behaviour rude and attempted to explain the rules to Harry’s then-fiancee.

The advice went down like an ancient butler with a tray tripping over George’s abandoned toys — hard and noisily.

With Harry having made it clear that “what Meghan wants, Meghan gets”, and being from an industry famous for its yes men, perhaps the actor is not used to any form of negativity.

There are reports by the London Telegraph’s Camilla Tominey, who was the first to break the news of Harry and Meghan’s relationship, that “Kate was left in tears following a bridesmaids dress fitting for Princess Charlotte”.

“Kate had only just given birth to Prince Louis and was feeling quite emotional,” she wrote.

Meanwhile, Harry has been angered that his brother and courtiers have not been “rolling out the red carpet” for his bride, a situation made worse when William voiced his concern about Meghan’s suitability ahead of their May wedding.

Being guests of the Queen for the festive season, the two women will no doubt be on their best behaviour. Let’s just hope they’re not buying each other gifts in the Secret Santa.