Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton’s awkward reunion

Their apparent “rift” isn’t said to have improved and “they are not talking a lot”. Can the Duchesses’ relationship ever be repaired?

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In January 2019, makeup artist Daniel Martin posted a seemingly mundane shot on Instagram that immediately made global news. It was simply an image of a teapot, teacups and avocado toast, hardly explosive stuff, but what made it headline-worthy was where it was taken – inside Kensington Palace – and who made the toast – Meghan the Duchess of Sussex.

It was a touching moment of normalcy and warmth, two longtime friends sharing a cuppa and a catch-up. (Okay, and some decadent Fortnum & Mason chocolate truffles too – the woman is an HRH after all …)

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That avocado toast Instagram post from Daniel Martin.

So, the question is, will the scene be quite so cozy (and delicious) when Meghan reunites with Kate Duchess of Cambridge later this year?

The last time that the two women were photographed together, during the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey in March last year, was an exercise in rictus grimaces and sour expressions. As Kate and husband Prince William and Meghan and husband Prince Harry all sat inches away from one another they maintained a decidedly frosty distance and a deafening silence. On clear wince-worthy and embarrassing display was the fractured relationship between the two couples.

Heck, there were warmer cross-border confabs at Checkpoint Charlie during the Cold War.

However now the clock is ticking down to Kate and Meghan meeting again in London, setting the stage for the two Wales wives to come face-to-face for the first time since the tumult of Megxit.

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The Duchesses haven’t seen each other since that frosty exit out of Westminster in March 2020. Picture: Phil Harris / POOL / AFP.

The exact timing for this particular get-together remains up in the air, with the UK currently experiencing its third coronavirus pandemic lockdown. Assuming that at some stage in the coming months, especially as the vaccine is rolled out, that COVID is brought under control and travel is deemed safe, the Sussexes will return to the UK this year with a series of key family events already in the royal calendar.

In late May the postponed Invictus Games will kick off in The Hague, June will mark Prince Philip’s 100th birthday and is Trooping the Colour while on July 1st, both William and Harry will appear together to unveil a statue of Diana, Princess of Wales on the day that would have been her 60th birthday.

Thus the scene – if not the date – is set for Meghan and Kate to come together after a seismic period in royal history.

“I think it’s going to be very awkward if they do meet up,” veteran royal writer Phil Dampier told the Sun recently.

“From what I am told the rift is not a lot better at the moment – they are not talking a lot.

“I think they will put on a united front for the unveiling of Diana’s statue and I’m sure they will put on a united front for the birthday celebrations but behind the scenes I think there’s going to be a lot of tension.”

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Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle watching Serena Williams at Wimbledon July 13 2019. Picture: Ben Curtis / POOL / AFP.

Developments since the Commonwealth Day service last year seem unlikely to have helped relations between Meghan and Kate.

In August last year the much-hyped biography Finding Freedom finally landed, drawing back the curtain on, among other things, the dynamic between the royal wives. Kate, Freedom claimed, had done “little to bridge the divide” when Meghan first entered royal life and that “Meghan was disappointed that she and Kate hadn’t bonded over the unique position they shared, but she wasn’t losing sleep over it”.

Complicating matters even more was the May publication of a cover story by society bible Tatler, entitled Catherine the Great. Ostensibly a pro-Kate profile, the piece caused waves with the palace after it claimed she had been left “fuming” after Megxit.

An insider claimed to Tatler that “Kate is furious about the larger workload. Of course she’s smiling and dressing appropriately but she doesn’t want this.

“She’s working as hard as a top CEO, who has to be wheeled out all the time, without the benefits of boundaries and plenty of holidays.”

Kate Middleton is said to be working like a trooper since the exit of Harry and Meghan. Picture: Danny Lawson / POOL / AFP.

Kensington Palace soon hit back and in September, Tatler removed a number of sections of the story including the claims about Kate being “furious” and the CEO part.

However, what is marked are the Sussex claims that have been left in the story, such as one royal insider saying, “In the palace, you hear numerous stories of the staff saying so-and-so is a nightmare and behaves badly but you never hear that about Kate.”

Elsewhere, a courtier is quoted as saying, “Kate keeps her staff whereas Meghan doesn’t. Doesn’t that say everything?”

Interestingly, a quote from a Cambridge friend (“I think Meghan and Harry have been so selfish. William and Catherine really want to be hands-on parents and I think that the Sussexes have effectively thrown their three children under a bus. There goes their morning school runs as the responsibilities on them now are enormous”) is still in the copy available online.

The fact that such critical asides were not pulled from the controversial piece is hardly likely to improve trans-Atlantic royal relations.

Still, what is indisputable is that far more of the load to prop up the royal brand will now fall on Kate and William’s shoulders. The roster of senior working members of the royal family is now down to eight, including the Cambridges, and has a median age of 68-years-old. The responsibility of injecting a modicum of youthful verve into the monarchy’s image now lies with the dependably dull William and Kate, making it an Everest-like task.

Kate and William have the unenviable job of being the only young working royals. Picture: Andy Commins – WPA Pool/Getty Images.

Reader, I’m not that optimistic.

Let me be clear: Harry and Meghan had every right to find the peace and freedom they craved. It is to their eternal credit that they courageously chose to chart their own course and do what they thought was right for the family in the face of considerable public opposition.

But when they left, with them went the best chance, since the days of Diana, that the house of Windsor has ever had to make the institution both relatable and relevant. They left a vacuum and the palace seems at sea when it comes to working out quite how to fill that.

For everyone involved – the Sussexes, the Cambridges, Prince Charles and the Queen – there will surely come a point in the not-too-distant future when they could all have to face both the professional repercussions and the family fallout of the events of the last year.

You know what goes really well with an in-person, potentially fraught, family reckoning? Some smashing avocado toast. Some of those Fortnum & Mason truffles might help smooth things over too. Lucky they will have just the woman on hand to whip up the perfect afternoon tea.

Daniela Elser is a royal expert and writer with more than 15 years experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.