D-Day looming in Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton’s royal feud

Rumours of a royal feud have been simmering for months but in six days, the truth about Meghan and Kate’s relationship will be revealed.

Set your clocks and mark your calendars: July 1 is going to be a big day.

It is the start of Wimbledon and therefore means that the tournament’s royal patron, one Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, will be fronting up to sit courtside and in doing so, we will get our next clear indication about the true state of the relationship between the Sussexes and the Cambridges.

Let me explain. Kate is the royal patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club and last year, she brought Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, along for a public show of courtside togetherness, the duo chatting amiably as the watched the day’s play looking positively chummy.

The message was loud and clear — they were a unified front.

But a lot has changed over the past year, thus, whether Kate arrives solo or with Meghan in tow will be a litmus test of just how much enmity exists between the Wales boys and their wives.

Kate and Meghan have reportedly been at odds for months. Picture: Frank Augstein/AP

Meghan has been cast as the villain in the royal feud. Picture: Frank Augstein/AP

Last week, the Royal Foundation announced that Harry and Meghan are parting ways with the organisation. (They will most likely, at some stage in the future, set up their own philanthropic arm.)

While this might sound like it signals nothing more significant that the need for some new personalised note paper, this is momentous stuff. With one anodyne statement about the Sussexes’ exit, speculation about The Feud was reignited.

For months on end, it has been widely, exhaustively rumoured that the two couples have had a whopping great falling out.

Much of the reporting about this supposed disagreement has focused on the two Duchess’ allegedly very frosty relationship, while others have suggested that Harry and Wills’ relationship started to disintegrate after elder Wales brother cautioned his younger brother against marrying Meghan after so brief a romance.

(Keep in mind — it took Wills about nine years to put a ring on it.)

Kate and Meghan have been the subject of many, many headlines. Picture: Supplied

This year has seen Harry and Meghan carefully and methodically extricate themselves from Will and Kate’s orbit. First they opted to up sticks and relocate to Windsor rather than moving in next door to the Cambridges at Kensington Palace. (And after the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester had moved out of their apartment to make way for the newlyweds.)

Then came the news the Sussexes were setting up their own royal office, hiring former Hillary Clinton PR wunderkind Sara Latham to manage their communications.

Lastly, there was the Great Instagram Showdown of 2019 when Harry and Meghan launched their own account, @SussexRoyal, which, in barely three months, has come dangerously close to surpassing the number of followers the Cambridges’ @KensingtonRoyal boasts.

None of this has done anything to quell those pesky rumours that two couples are entrenched in a long simmering quarrel.

While there has as a brief reprieve in the endless speculation of late, the events of the last week have put The Feud firmly front and centre again.

The Foundation was established in 2009 to be the umbrella for Wills and Harry’s charitable interests, from mental health to conservation work. When Wills married Kate, she came on board too. Ditto when Meghan signed on to join the Firm, aka the Windsors.

The Foundation was conceived as a lifelong, shared entity that would unite the boys (and their wives) and capitalised on the potency of the boys’ power as a duo.

Last year, Kate and Meghan put on a united front at Wimbledon. Picture: Oli Scarff/AFP

However, the Foundation was the last bulwark in Harry and Wills’ relationship. With the confirmation that Harry and Meghan have left, it brings a brutal finality to Harry and Wills’ already tenuous fraternal connection.

The last professional tie between them has been severed and this would suggest that this is not some temporary tiff that will be sorted out over a few lagers down the local. (Which in Royal terms means adjourning to the east drawing room for a few bevies served by footmen.)

As a former royal staffer told journalist Sophia Money-Coutts for a piece in the Times: “The foundation’s the one to watch. If it doesn’t hold together, that’s a real sign there’s a problem.”

Money-Coutts, who formerly worked for society bible Tatler and is the daughter of the 9th Baron Latymer, writes: “Talk is now quite open among royal staff, commentators and Sloaney friends of the rift between the Sussex and Cambridge households.

“After several years of positive royal PR … the situation behind palace walls is suddenly looking far less rosy.”

Adding fuel to this fire are rumours that the Sussexes have hired a social media expert. The new parents, the Express has reported, are allegedly unhappy that their Instagram account’s follower count has not surpassed that of the Cambridges’ account.

Meghan Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Kate Duchess of Cambridge attend the annual Trooping the Colour Ceremony in London. Picture: Gareth Fuller/PA via AP

The spin from the palace is that everyone is just thrilled about this turn of events which has seen the Sussexes split from the Royal Foundation.

“When the foundation was formed it was for two boys in their early 20s. Their lives have changed considerably,” an unnamed aide has told Vanity Fair. “This is a natural development.

“It’s a starting gun for some ambitious projects for the future and I think everyone is really excited.”

So keep an eye on Wimbledon next week because the real action will be happening off the court.

Daniela Elser is a royal expert and freelance writer. Continue the conversation @DanielaElser