Kate Middleton ‘Grimaced’ When Meghan Markle Asked to Borrow Lip Gloss in an ‘Awkward Moment’
In his Spare memoir, Prince Harry recalled how borrowed lip gloss prompted an “awkward moment” between Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton. How the Duke of Sussex said the Princess of Wales reacted to the request and why what should’ve been a laughable moment was part of “something bigger.”
Harry claimed Kate ‘grimaced’ when Meghan borrowed her lip gloss moments before the 2018 Royal Foundation Forum
Among the anecdotes in Spare is one from the 2018 Royal Foundation Forum. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex joined Prince William and now-Princess of Wales for a discussion after announcing they’d be working together.
As Harry wrote in his memoir, there’d been an “awkward moment” between Kate and Meghan just before the foursome took the stage. Harry claimed Meghan asked Kate if she could borrow some lip gloss — an “American thing” — because she’d forgotten hers (via UsWeekly).
“Kate, taken aback, went into her handbag and reluctantly pulled out a small tube,” Harry wrote. “Meg squeezed some onto her finger and applied it to her lips. Kate grimaced.”
Harry went on to say he and Meghan “should’ve been able to laugh about” it. Rather, it became a cringeworthy moment, one the press “sensed” was part of “something bigger.”
“‘Here we go,’ I thought sorrowfully,” Harry wrote.
Prince Harry felt Kate Middleton had been ‘on edge’ due to Meghan Markle comparisons
When they took the stage, answering “softball questions” in what Harry described as a “positive” environment, the now-38-year-old became hopeful.
“The audience was keen, all four of us were having fun, the whole atmosphere was hugely positive. … ‘Here we go,’ I thought hopefully,” he wrote.
Following the Royal Foundation Forum, however, “controversy” struck.
“Something about Meg showing support for #MeToo, and Kate not showing support — via their outfits? I think that was the gist, though who can say? It wasn’t real,” Harry wrote.
“I think it had Kate on edge while putting her and everyone else on notice that she was now going to be compared to, and forced to compete with, Meg,” he continued.
Harry noticed a ‘marked difference’ in how Meghan and Kate dressed
Elsewhere in Spare, Harry recalled how when Kate and Meghan met, he immediately noticed a difference in their choice of clothing. He and Meghan had William and Kate over for dinner, which as Harry recalled, had the sisters-in-law dressing very differently.
“The only possibly discordant note I could think of was the marked difference in how the two women dressed, which both of them seemed to notice,” Harry wrote (via Mirror). “Meg: ripped jeans, barefoot. Kate: done up to the nines. No big deal, I thought.”
Meghan discussed the dinner in Netflix’s Harry & Meghan, explaining she’d then realized the royal family’s “formality” in public continues in private.
“When Will and Kate came over, and I met her for the first time, they came over for dinner,” Meghan said. “I remember I was in ripped jeans, and I was barefoot. I was a hugger. I’ve always been a hugger, I didn’t realize that that is really jarring for a lot of Brits.”
She continued: “I guess I started to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside. There is a forward-facing way of being, and then you close the door and go, ‘You can relax now.’” But that formality carries over on both sides. And that was surprising to me.”
