Meghan Markle’s Rumored Feuds With The Royal Family Revisited

Meghan Markle isn’t unfamiliar with family feuds. Since announcing her engagement to Britain's Prince Harry last November, her family has continuously made their relationships, or lack thereof, national news.

From her father Thomas Markle staging a photoshoot before the royal wedding to her half-sister Samantha Markle making an unannounced visit to Kensington Palace in October, there’s been a continuous stream of drama within the Markle brood. However, if you believe the rumors, Meghan’s family feuds may not be with just her own blood. There have been numerous reports she’s also butted heads with members of her beau’s royal family.

Last December, weeks after it was revealed that Meghan would be joining the royal family, Star Magazine tried to pit Meghan and her soon-to-be sister-in-law, Duchess Catherine, against one another by reporting that Kate Middleton had stopped Meghan from gifting Queen Elizabeth II a present. When Meghan reportedly went to gift the reigning monarch tea-infused muffins, Kate is said to have halted her by saying, “The Queen likes what she likes, made to her exact specifications… so if I were you, I just wouldn’t.” This report, however, was blasted as “completely made up.”

That same month, Celebrity Dirty Laundry reported that Prince Harry's grandmother “might favor Meghan over Kate simply because she’s seen evidence of the young Hollywood actresses’ strong work ethic.” A palace source also deemed this rumor as “rubbish.”

To make matters worse, Meghan was also said to be “secretly” feuding with Kate’s sister Pippa Middleton that same month. Life & Style Magazine said Pippa was upset over Kate’s close bond to the Harry’s then future bride. “They used to do everything together and speak daily but now that Meghan lives practically under the same roof as Kate at Kensington Palace, the dynamics have changed and Pippa feels shoved out,” a source said.

It hasn’t just been Meghan who has been speculated to butt heads with the royals. In January, Australian tabloid New Idea claimed her dad and mom, Doria Ragland, were at odds with Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. The reason for their alleged feud? A TV wedding deal to capture Meghan and Harry’s May nuptials.

“To say that Prince Charles is appalled by Meghan’s family using the wedding and the royal family as a way to make money off a tacky TV special is an understatement. This is exactly the type of exploitation that Charles and his mother hate,” an unnamed source told the magazine. A palace insider later debunked the rumor by calling it “false.”

There are even stories regarding the relationship between Meghan and Prince George, the eldest son of Prince William and Kate Middleton. In May, TV writer Gary Janetti’s Instagram account picked up steam after he started creating a fictional tale about a feud between the new Duchess and the young prince.

“I saw pictures of Prince George’s first day of school. He had such an expressive face. I thought, ‘I’m going to write from his point of view.’ That was the genesis of it. It started very simply. I did a post. It got nothing. It wasn’t until I paired him with Meghan Markle. I did a mash-up of them side by side. People responded instantly to that… I seem him as a fleshed-out character that I would write on any TV show,” Janetti told the New York Times.

When Meghan and Harry became husband and wife, the feud rumors did not cease. Despite Kate doing her best not to upstage Meghan her wedding day by re-wearing an old coat, a rumor emerged two months later that Kate and Mehgan were once again at odds.

In July, while Kate was on maternity leave for her third child, Life & Style reported she and Meghan were locked in a rivalry over their relationships with the Queen. “She’s beginning to feel more and more shoved out now that Meghan’s in the picture,” a source said of Kate.

As recently as September, another report pitted Kate against Meghan. A report by In Touch claimed Meghan and Kate were “duking it out” over being Queen Elizabeth II’s “favorite” granddaughter-in-law. A source said the former actress was doing all she could at the time to “butter up the woman who currently wears the crown.” The publication claimed Kate tried to win the Queen over by going out of her way to “charm and impress” her during a visit to her Scottish retreat.

“Meghan learned everything she knows from Kate. But since the wedding, Kate feels like Meghan has barely made any effort with her and is more interested in impressing the Queen,” a royal insider revealed. “To be fair, Meghan has been busy. But Kate feels like she’s put a lot of effort into their friendship and hasn’t gotten much in return.”

After numerous rumors regarding feuds involving Meghan and the British royal family, one reporter tried to make sense of all the gossip. In February, in response to reports Meghan was feuding with female royal family members, Hadley Freeman from The Guardian wrote that the competition and alleged feuding among Markle, Kate and Princess Eugenie could be due to everyone's fandom about a female rivalry. In reality, Freeman said the women were not competing and were actually friends.