Meghan Markle committed a big Royal no-no when she first met Prince William and Kate Middleton

We all know that Meghan Markle is pretty much out of favor with the Royal family these days, but was it always like this? Back when she was dating Prince Harry and even in the early days of their marriage, it seemed like they were set to be prominent members of the royal circle for life. However, things took a turn for the worse, and eventually, they felt they had to move far away from Harry’s family.

According to Harry, the Royal family initially had a favorable view of Meghan—maybe even too favorable. In their Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, he shared that at first, his family thought Meghan was so “beautiful and intelligent” that they didn’t really believe she would end up with him. It wasn’t until they actually got married that they realized Meghan, the woman they never expected to join their ranks, was now officially one of them. That’s when the troubles started brewing.

The signs of trouble were apparent from Meghan’s first awkward encounter with her future in-laws, Prince William and Kate Middleton. Meghan broke royal protocol almost immediately during that first meeting, which set the stage for her struggles in adapting to royal life.

During the couple’s well-known interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, Meghan shared her experience meeting William and Kate for the first time. She painted a picture of herself as being unfairly treated by the royal family right from the start. To illustrate this point, she recalled how she met William and Kate while wearing ripped jeans and going barefoot. She described herself as a “hugger” and admitted that her casual, friendly demeanor probably didn’t sit well with them.

As Meghan reflected on that first meeting, she realized that the formality the Royal family projects to the public doesn’t just disappear when they’re off-camera; it’s a constant way of life. She learned that the same rules of decorum apply both in public and private settings, which was a bit of a shock for her.

“I started to understand that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside,” Meghan explained. “That there is a forward-facing way of being, and then you close the door and think, ‘OK, we can relax now.’ But that formality carries over on both sides, and that was surprising to me.”

This is how Meghan recalls the situation, but Kate reportedly took issue with Meghan’s portrayal of her during the Oprah interview. Sources close to Kate claimed she found Meghan’s comments to be untrue and quite upsetting.

Interestingly, Meghan’s brother-in-law James Middleton wrote in his autobiography about a similar situation when Kate met his future wife, Alizée Thevenet. Unlike Meghan’s first meeting, where she felt the weight of royal expectations, Alizée casually strolled into the room wearing just one of James’s shirts when she visited with William and their kids. Kate apparently didn’t bat an eye at Alizée’s state of dress and later told James, “She’s great!”

This raises the question: was there a double standard in how Meghan was treated compared to Alizée? Or was it just a different context, given that Meghan was under a lot more pressure as she joined the Royal family? It’s a tricky debate, but it’s clear that Meghan’s status as an outsider made things tougher for her from the start.