Of course Meghan and Kate aren’t besties. Why would they be?

Being best mates with your sister-in-law is a nice idea, but how many women actually are? In that respect, the royals are just like the rest of us, writes Katy Hall.

If rumours are to be believed, a royal rift is occurring before our very eyes.

An anonymous source close to the Windsors claimed this week that despite the hopes and dreams of an entire world and previously attending a tennis match together, Kate and Meghan don’t like each other all that much.

“Kate and Meghan are very different people,” the source told the Daily Mail, adding, “They don’t really get on.”

In part, these rumours have been fuelled by the fact that in the lead up to the arrival of their first child next year, Prince Harry and Meghan will be leaving their apartment at Kensington Palace and relocating to Frogmore Cottage, on the grounds of which the couple posed for their official engagement portraits and held their wedding reception earlier this year.

Now, not to put a dampener on the whole fallout conspiracy theory, but it seems like a pretty tall order for the two wives of Windsors to have become best friends in the first place.

She may be very happy for Harry and Meghan, but Kate is too busy for best buddy excursions right now. Picture: John Stillwell/Getty

Having known each other for all of about two years, Meghan has been somewhat busy doing things like planning a wedding, wrapping up her television career, relocating across the world, undertaking royal tours and visits, falling pregnant and learning the do’s and don’ts of her new royal life.

Not to be outdone, Kate has also had her hands full, sending her eldest child off to kindergarten, falling pregnant, welcoming her third child into the world, helping her sister Pippa plan her own wedding and prepare for her first child, and keeping up the many, many public appearances we’ve come to expect from a royal patron.

If after all that there’s still time for a friendship of any kind to blossom, let alone that of inseparable best friends, then we don’t need to see smiling pictures of the two side-by-side at official engagements, we need a how-to guide titled, The Royal Art of Getting Sh*t Done (And Then Some).

Diana, Princess of Wales and Sarah, Duchess of York were great mates for years and often went on holidays together. Picture: Alpha Agency

The idea of wives becoming best pals is inherently ingrained in us thanks to the ultra-close friendship of Fergie and Diana, who were thick as thieves for years.

Together, they shared family holidays, bore the brunt of the limelight that followed them around together, and regularly partook in small acts of rebellion against the stuffy institution into which they’d married.

Sadly, that glorious period passed after the Duchess of York told reporters that a pair of shoes she had borrowed from the Princess of Wales left her with a verucca. Not exactly toe sucking, but still, not the kind of rumour you want circulating about your feet.

There’s every chance that in years to come Kate and Meghan will form a strong and solid friendship. After all, theirs is a life and experience that few others could even begin to understand.

Meghan is settling into royal life, but it’s taking time. Picture: AFP/Adrian Dennis

But like all good things in life, longlasting friendships take time to develop.

You have to get to know one another, experience things together, suss out the boundaries, build a mutual respect, bring over a banana cake when the chips are down. And you have to have the time to really invest in one another, something that anyone who has ever had a full-time job and a young family will tell you is hard enough to do with your long-term mates, let alone new ones.

Being married to members of the same family invariably forms a kind of bond and camradarie, but how many people can really say that they’re best friends with their in-laws? For most of us, the relationships are good and everyone genuinely enjoys catching up. But if like Meghan and Kate, you’ve come to your marriage as an adult, chances are you’ve already found your circle of friends. And while there’s always room for more, it shouldn’t have to be forced just for the sake of public interest.

The idea that two women could do all of that in such a short space of time — and during one of the busiest periods of their respective lives — seems mad. But then again, so do lots of things that the royals do.

Katy Hall is a writer and producer for RendezView.

@katyhallway

Originally published as Of course Meghan and Kate aren’t besties. Why would they be?