William and Harry’s Engagement Interviews ‘Felt Very Different’ Because of ‘Formidable’ Meghan, ‘No Experience’ Kate
Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton sat down for the traditional engagement interview before marrying into the British royal family. However, as a royal author later said, there appeared to be a major contrast between their respective 2017 and 2010 engagement interviews alongside Prince Harry and Prince William. Ahead, what the “very different” feeling “largely” came “down to.”
Recapping William and Kate’s engagement interview and Harry and Meghan’s
Nov. 16, 2010, and Nov. 27, 2017, marked special moments on the royal family’s calendar. On those days the now-Prince and Princess of Wales and the now-Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their engagements.
Following engagement photo calls — one at St. James’s Palace and the other at Kensington Palace’s Sunken Garden — the couples sat down for interviews.
William and Kate, then both 28, discussed the proposal (it happened on vacation), their long courtship, and the 12-carat sapphire engagement ring (formerly Princess Diana’s).
As for Harry and Meghan, they touched on how they met (through a friend), long-distance dating, their Nottingham Cottage proposal, and the diamond engagement ring Harry designed.
‘Very different’ engagement interviews hinged upon Meghan being ‘really incredibly different’ from Kate
Sure, the couples once dubbed the “Fab Four” answered many of the same questions in their engagement interviews. However, as author and royal correspondent Katie Nicholl once said, they had entirely “different” feels.
“I think the engagement day interview felt very different,” the New Royals author said (via Slate). In Nicholl’s opinion, it came “largely down to the fact that Meghan is really incredibly different from Kate Middleton.”
Is it the “marked difference” in style Harry noticed when introducing Meghan and Kate? Or how about Meghan’s less formal nature and eagerness to give hugs? Neither, according to Nicholl. Rather, the “different” feel stemmed from experience.
Today, Kate has 10-plus years as a British royal. In 2010, however, she’d only just gotten started. Meanwhile, Meghan, now 41, had already had years of on-camera experience thanks to her acting career by the time of her and Harry’s engagement interview.
“At that point, Kate Middleton had had no media training,” Nicholl said of the Prince and Princess of Wales’ engagement interview. “She had had no experience with being in the public eye.”
“And here was Meghan, an accomplished and successful actress, very ambitious, intelligent, articulate, independent woman who presented herself in quite a formidable way,” Nicholl continued.
“In that respect, it did feel very different from previous engagements,” she explained. “There was no sign of nervousness or any suggestion that she felt overwhelmed or intimidated by the situation. She took it in stride.”
“I remember watching it and re-watching it and just thinking, ‘Wow, this is exactly what the royal family needs. This is brilliant. And Harry just seems so happy,’” Nicholl added.
Meghan later called her and Harry’s engagement interview an ‘orchestrated reality show’
In Netflix’s Harry & Meghan docuseries, Meghan admitted she didn’t exactly look back on her and Harry’s engagement interview with fond memories. She told interviewers how it wasn’t a full picture of what had been going on in their lives at the time.
“We weren’t allowed to tell our story,” Meghan said before describing it as an “orchestrated reality show.”
“It was, you know, rehearsed. So we did the thing out with the press and then we went right inside, took the coat off, sat down, and did the interview. So it’s all in that same moment,” Meghan explained.
