Prince William, Kate Middleton, and Princess Anne Give Different ‘Picture’ of the Royal Family From What ‘Naive’ Meghan Markle Saw, Expert Says
A September 2023 podcast appearance by Prince William, Kate Middleton, and Princess Anne has an expert calling Meghan Markle “naive.” Specifically regarding a comment the Duchess of Sussex made about the royal family being cold. Ahead, what the Prince and Princess of Wales discussed alongside the Princess Royal and how it seemingly countered Meghan’s claim.
William, Kate, and Anne’s comments gave a rather ‘normal’ description of the royal family compared to Meghan’s
Following William, Kate, and Anne’s appearance on the Sept. 9 episode of Mike Tindall’s The Good, The Bad, & The Rugby podcast, royal expert Jennie Bond explained how their conversation about sports didn’t match up with Meghan’s own description of meeting the royals.
“Mike and his rugby colleagues have a wonderful way of teasing out little titbits about life behind the palace walls,” Bond told OK! Magazine. “It’s always fascinating to get a glimpse of how the family get on with one another, and also what they get up to in private.”
“The image, for example, of Princess Anne chasing William, and now his children, around the ‘Balmoral Square’ and often winning because she is ‘good at corners’ illustrates that, despite her sometimes rather stiff appearance, she’s a thoroughly fun aunt to have around.”
“Now it seems Beer Pong is a new favourite [sic]” game the royals play, she said, noting it “inspires the same competitive spirit” as games the late Queen Elizabeth II played with her family, but “obviously fuelled by a bit of alcohol!”
It’s refreshing to think of them fooling around, enjoying such a daft game, and simply being ‘normal,’” she added.
The podcast ‘picture’ of the royal family dubbed ‘very far removed’ from the one Meghan described
Bond continued: “The picture we got from this podcast was of a family very far removed from the one described by Meghan when she complained about how formal and standoffish she found them.”
Recorded at Windsor Castle, Kate, William, and Anne were joined by Tindall and his podcast co-hosts James Haskell and Alex Payne.
“They are a family where trust is everything,” the expert said. “And it obviously takes a certain amount of time to build up trust. If that surprised Meghan, then she was being naive.”
“It can’t be that easy to look relaxed in the grand setting of Windsor Castle,” Bond added. “But it was obvious that Mike, his mother-in-law, William, and Catherine, have an easy relationship with one another.”
Meghan Markle previously said ‘formality carries over’ from public to private for the royal family
As for Meghan’s comment about the royal family, she recalled meeting Kate and William over dinner in Netflix’s December 2022 Harry & Meghan docuseries.
“I was a hugger, always been a hugger,” Meghan said, noting she “didn’t realize that is really jarring for a lot of Brits. I guess I’d start 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 you relax now. But that formality carries over on both sides. And that was surprising to me.”
Meanwhile, in Harry’s January 2023 Spare memoir, he described William being “freaked out” by a hug from Meghan.
