The shocking differences between Catherine the Princess of Wales and Meghan Markle have just been exposed in glorious detail. Every time Meghan Markle appeared to step into Catherine’s lane, royal watchers noticed. And after eight years of side-by-side moments, the pattern has become much harder to ignore.
Saturday, May 19th, 2018, St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. Meghan walked in wearing Givenchy by Clare Waight Keller, a silk caddy gown with a dramatic train long enough to need five children carrying it behind her. Seven years earlier, Catherine had walked down the aisle at Westminster Abbey in Alexander McQueen by Sarah Burton, with lace sleeves, a fitted bodice, and a 9-ft train that instantly became royal fashion history.
The comparisons started almost immediately. Within days, the press was already placing the two dresses beside each other, Catherine’s 2011 McQueen against Meghan’s 2018 Givenchy. Sleeve by sleeve, tiara by tiara, royal bride against royal bride. That was the first time the public saw the parallel clearly, but it would not be the last.
It’s it’s just it’s horrible what Meghan has done. And I just feel really sad for the monarchy at times because I know that’s what Meghan has in her sight to do things to people like Catherine. Things that came out in that book, you know, about calling them racist. Like she takes the most egregious thing you can say about a person.
What you are about to watch is eight years of the same move being noticed again and again. Eight separate moments when Catherine, the Princess of Wales, had something major happening. A public win, a project, a trip, a headline, a carefully built moment, and Meghan, within months or sometimes even weeks, appeared to move into a strikingly similar space.
I wonder if you feel that as Meghan tries harder, actually, as we can see in those contrasting imagery, it’s actually Catherine who comes out stronger because she’s not trying to be anything other than someone who is there for the public, her subjects. Royal commentators have used one word for this pattern, and it is not a soft one.
Tom Quinn used it in a book published last year. Kinsey Schofield used it on GB News in 2023. Jane Barr put it in a headline that went viral in February. Tom Sykes at The Daily Beast used the same word last week, only in a different context. Four royal commentators, years apart, circling the same idea. The word is fixation. And that is why this story matters, because this is not just about dresses, photo angles, jewelry, speeches, or Instagram timing.
It is about a public pattern that has followed Meghan and Catherine from the wedding aisle to royal tours, charity projects, media moments, and now even private family events Meghan has not been invited to. Some of these moments you will remember right away. Others may have slipped past you at the time, but when you place them in order, the picture becomes much clearer.
The eighth one happened just nine days ago, and it ends with a phone call connected to a wedding Meghan is not expected to attend. So, let’s start where the comparison first exploded, the wedding gowns. Catherine’s Alexander McQueen dress became the gold standard for the modern royal bride. Meghan’s Givenchy gown arrived seven years later, cleaner, simpler, and more Hollywood in tone.
This woman was getting a wedding far bigger and more elaborate than they even deserved. The Queen wanted her to have something small, but no, she wanted all the bells and whistles, but then she was totally rude about everything. A bride cannot control how the media ranks her against another bride from 7 years earlier, but that comparison happened immediately, and it set the tone for what came next.
Over the following years, every time Meghan entered a space Catherine had already occupied, royal watchers started asking whether it was coincidence or pattern. Meghan continues to try and cosplay Catherine. Now, we’ve rumbled it, we see it, but it shows that she is obsessed with this woman who she still views as her biggest rival in the world.
The general press verdict that week and in the month that followed was not especially kind to Meghan. Across fashion coverage, broadsheet features, and public reaction, Catherine’s 2011 McQueen gown was often treated as the stronger royal bridal moment. Fashion writers at the time praised Catherine’s Alexander McQueen dress for its balance of tradition, elegance, and modern royal polish.
The lace, the sleeves, the silhouette, the tiara, the full Westminster Abbey setting, it all became part of the image. Meghan’s Givenchy gown was simpler, cleaner, and more minimalist in tone, but the press could not resist putting it beside Catherine’s and asking which royal bride had won. A bride cannot control how the media ranks her against another bride from 7 years earlier, but that comparison happened immediately, and it set the tone for what came next.
Over the following years, every time Meghan entered a space Catherine had already occupied, royal watchers started asking whether it was coincidence or pattern. And we remember, don’t we, Tash, what they did at one of the princesses’ wedding, revealed the fact that they were expecting. So, totally overshadowed pregnant, week pregnant.
No one would have known, but they decided to do it then and there. Of course she did. Exactly. So, it’s not even like they’re the type of people that you really want at a wedding. But, it’s not that that’s what this is about, though. It’s a message from the family. You are not welcome. We side with William and Catherine. It’s clear.
Then came October 12th, 2018. Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank’s wedding day. This was Eugenie’s moment. The guest list had been set months earlier. The planning had taken over a year. St. George’s Chapel was full again. The cameras were rolling again. And another royal bride was supposed to have the spotlight.
But, according to reports, that was also the day Harry and Meghan privately told members of the family that Meghan was pregnant. And that detail has followed them ever since. Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice are close with their cousins. You know, regardless of the turmoil that’s obviously going on with the fallout with Andrew and Fergie and whether they have been involved and haven’t been involved.
They’re incredibly close with Zara. They’re incredibly close with Peter Phillips. You often see them going to Monaco and the, you know, the Grand Prix together. That family is incredibly close. You know, so, yeah. I mean, for them to turn around and say, “Oh, well, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie are trying to go.
” You’ve seen the media try and spin it. And it’s this storyline again. And I’m so sick of this narrative of all Harry and Meghan. They’ve been cruelly maligned. They’ve been ostracized. The poor little things have done nothing wrong. They’ve done a hell of a lot wrong, to be fair. And the fact that they’ve still got those titles, I think the family is still going fairly easy on them.
I know it’s not the easiest thing to strip. That involves Parliament. But, they have really, really taken the piss out of that family, out of Queen Elizabeth, out of the generosity of the royal family. Three days later, the palace announced the pregnancy publicly. Now, the Sussex side has always maintained that this was not meant to steal attention.
Their version is that Harry and Meghan were excited, sharing happy news privately with family during a rare moment when everyone was together. On paper, that sounds understandable, but critics saw it differently. To them, the timing looked careless at best and calculated at worst. Princess Eugenie had waited for her royal wedding day only for another Sussex headline to begin forming in the background before the celebrations were even over.
Sarah Ferguson did not publicly attack them over it. She did not need to. Her silence said enough for many royal watchers. The Mirror reported the pregnancy announcement and timing, while Daily Mail coverage focused on the family’s quiet reaction. And that became the second receipt in the pattern. Another royal woman’s moment, another Sussex headline appearing right beside it.
What what’s this now? That Kate was left in tears apparently at a bridesmaid’s dress fitting for Charlotte. Over at the Royal Observer, a defense of the Sussex side appeared under the headline, “Why Harry and Meghan revealed pregnancy at Eugenie’s wedding. No, it wasn’t to steal the spotlight.” That was the argument from their side.
This was a private family moment, not a deliberate attempt to pull focus. But other coverage landed very differently. The International Business Times ran a separate report describing Sarah Ferguson’s reaction as a fiery repost. And whether the Sussexes meant it that way or not, the timing still became the story.
Eugenie’s wedding day ended up carrying a Sussex baby headline right behind it. And for several days, the news cycle that should have belonged to Eugenie also belonged to Harry and Meghan. That is the pattern royal watchers keep pointing to. Maybe each moment has an explanation on its own, but when they stack together, the explanations start to feel thinner.
May 20, 2018, The Telegraph reported the story that would follow both women for years. The bridesmaids dress fitting at Kensington Palace, where Meghan was said to have made Catherine cry over Princess Charlotte’s dress. The reverse happened. It made me cry, and it really hurt my feelings. And I thought in the context of everything else that was going on in those days leading to the wedding, it was a really hard week of the wedding, and she was upset about something, but she owned it, and she apologized, and she brought me
flowers and a note apologizing. What was hard to get over was being blamed for something that not only I didn’t do, but that happened to me. And And the people who were part of our wedding going to our comms team and saying, “I know this didn’t happen.” Then, in Meghan’s 2021 Oprah interview, she gave the opposite version.
According to Meghan, Catherine made her cry, then later apologized with a card and flowers. It’s really important for people to understand the truth. I I would hope that she would have wanted that corrected. And maybe in the same way that the palace wouldn’t let anybody else negate it, they wouldn’t let her because she’s a good person.
And I think so much of what I have seen play out is this idea of polarity. If you love her, you don’t need to hate me. For years, it became one of the central royal disputes. Who cried? Who hurt whom? And whose version was closer to the truth? Spare gave one version. Finding Freedom gave another. Both sides had their defenders.
Both sides had their anger. But Tom Quinn’s 2025 book gave the most useful middle ground. Quinn spoke to royal staff, and he published a synthesis from someone he identified as a Kensington Palace staffer who had been in the building. That matters because the argument had spent years being framed as Meghan versus Catherine, when the truth may have been messier than either side wanted to admit.
The line that puts the fight to rest, quote, “The truth is that during the discussions about the bridesmaid’s dress, Meghan said a few things she regretted, and Kate said a few things she later regretted, but it was all in the heat of the moment. Both women were crying their eyes out.” There we were, having tea.
I remember walking into Kensington Palace, and I was so excited. And I was like, “Lovely to meet you.” And she said, “You’re like, call me Meghan.” Yeah. Tom Quinn, in The Secret Life of Royal Servants, published in 2025, gives us the verdict. Both women were crying. That means the version where Meghan was perfectly calm does not survive, but neither does the version where Catherine floated above the whole argument untouched.
According to that account, both women were emotional, both said things they later regretted, and the fight happened over a child’s bridesmaid’s dress in the middle of wedding pressure, family tension, and palace stress. That is not glamorous, but it does sound human. Then came September 2019, and Meghan’s next major step into Catherine-adjacent territory, British Vogue.
Meghan guest edited the September issue, titled Forces for Change. She was rude, she was difficult, she was demanding, she was unrealistic, but what’s interesting is that Edward Enninful was keeping the friendship going despite all of that, but even he could not overlook her terrible behavior. Too, especially looking at the issue itself.
I mean, I’m sure it was one of their best sellers. Edward Enninful, the editor-in-chief, later called it the fastest-selling issue in the magazine’s history. And on paper, that looked like a huge Meghan win. A duchess, a fashion bible, a global platform, and a message wrapped in activism. But royal watchers noticed something else, too.
Meghan was once again stepping into a space Catherine had already made her own in a different way, using fashion, image, and public messaging to shape what modern royalty was supposed to look like. Please take a moment to capture what life’s like for you, because together I hope that we can build a lasting illustration of just how our country pulled together during the pandemic.
I can’t wait to share the final 100 images with you. Eight months later, in May 2020, Catherine launched Hold Still, a national photography project documenting Britain during the first COVID lockdown. It was edited by Catherine, introduced by Catherine, and built around the public’s own images of life during one of the most difficult moments in modern British history.
And that is where royal watchers noticed the overlap again. Meghan had just guest edited British Vogue in 2019 using a major editorial platform to frame women, activism, and public image under her own royal voice. Then Catherine entered a similar space through photography, curation, and national storytelling, but with a more British, family-centered, service-led tone.
Two women, same broad territory, same period, same idea of a female royal shaping public conversation through images and editorial control. The receipt here is not simply who did what first. The receipt is the overlap, and how often that overlap kept happening. Meghan really kind of fixated on what the Princess of Wales, you know, Duchess of Cambridge at the time, Kate Middleton had.
Meghan trying to have something of similar value. And I think that, you know, Meghan was a princess that wanted a castle. And, you know, she was denied, and I I don’t necessarily think that was the wrong decision. Then came January 2020, the Sandringham Summit. Queen Elizabeth called the meeting herself to deal with Harry and Meghan’s step back from royal duties, the moment that became known everywhere as Megxit.
And this is where royal commentator Kinsey Schofield said something years later that royal watchers did not forget. In 2023 on GB News with Mark Dolan, she said Meghan had really kind of fixated on what Catherine, then the Duchess of Cambridge, had, and seemed to want something of similar value. Meghan, like definitely, don’t get me wrong on on lots of the other, shall we say, obsessions.
It’s things that she has really evilly actually sort of made seep into his mind, like thoughts that he never had right over many, many years. For example, things in terms of the relationship with William or how he really felt about his mother. That word mattered. Schofield did not say jealous. She did not say competitive.
She said fixated on national television 3 years after the Sandringham crisis. And that should make people pause because Kinsey Schofield is not some random comment section voice. She has covered the royal family from Los Angeles for years, has followed both the American and British sides of the story, and chose that word carefully on a broadcast still available years later.
When the commentary class starts reaching for the same language, it becomes harder to dismiss the pattern as coincidence. Tom Quinn used similar framing. Schofield used it. Others would later circle the same idea. And the more the years passed, the more that word seemed to attach itself to the public comparison between Meghan and Catherine.
The next few moments did not soften that perception, they sharpened it. Princess Kate has finally revealed where she’s been the past few months, privately battling cancer. But even this very public admission wasn’t enough to quell the whinings of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. March 22nd, 2024 became one of the most serious days in Catherine’s public life.
The Princess of Wales released a video message from Adelaide Cottage confirming she had been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing treatment. The tone of the country shifted immediately. The speculations stopped. The press paused. Even many critics who had spent weeks questioning her absence from public life stepped back.
It was a deeply human moment and for once the royal noise around Catherine became quiet. Kensington Palace handled it with care. The video was simple, controlled, and emotional without being theatrical. Catherine spoke as a mother, a wife, and a public figure facing something frightening while trying to protect her children.
And in that moment most of Britain seemed to understand that this was not another royal headline to score points from. It was a serious family crisis and the public response reflected that. Harry and Meghan immediately told people magazine that the pair were not informed of the Princess of Wales’ diagnosis, adding that they are being left out of any details regarding Kate and there’s clearly no trust. I wonder why.
Harry and Meghan did release a statement wishing the Princess The Sussex camp issued a statement that same day. We wish health and healing for Kate and the family. On its own, that sounded polite and appropriate, but royal correspondent Richard Fitzwilliams later reported in time that Harry and Meghan had learned about Catherine’s diagnosis from the news, not privately from the family.
I think Meghan Markle’s team were trolling her with this insane holiday special. Absolutely do not try any of these crafts or recipes at home unless you also want to have a nervous breakdown. The Independent with love Meghan holiday celebration review, not fun, enjoyable, or even aspirational. The Guardian with love Meghan holiday celebration review, take anti-nausea pills, she’s back.
She literally skips through a Christmas tree farm, serves food that looks like animal droppings, and cooks a meal that Prince Harry hates. Assume the crash position before watching. The Telegraph joyless and fake, what a strange person Meghan is. That detail told its own story. The brothers reportedly had not been in contact for months, and trust between the two households had broken down badly.
So, even during one of the most serious health moments in Catherine’s life, the Sussexes were outside the circle, learning what the rest of the world learned at the same time. Catherine later completed chemotherapy in September 2024. Then, on January 14, 2025, she shared an Instagram post from a visit to the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, writing, “It is a relief to now be in remission, and I remain focused on recovery.
” That is where this entry lands. Catherine’s moment was not about glamour, rivalry, or royal competition. It was about survival, family, and recovery. And yet, even then, the Sussex statement became part of the wider story because it showed just how distant the two sides had become. February 2025 brought another comparison, and this one came through Netflix.
With love, Meghan arrived as Meghan’s soft-focus lifestyle show. Country kitchen, floral arrangements, cooking, hosting friends, warm lighting, gentle music, and a carefully staged domestic world. Everything was polished, cozy, and designed to feel effortless. They know they’re on camera, so they’re trying to act normal, but they want you to They think acting normal is looking around the house, smiling all the time, to sit around by yourself going They’re trying to act normal, but they also want to look good.
Yeah, and so that’s what’s happening. That’s what she’s doing the entire time. But royal watchers immediately noticed the familiar territory. Jane Barr, who writes the Substack column from Berkshire to Buckingham, published a February piece with a headline that did not leave much room to guessing.
With love, Meghan is the ultimate copycat. Her argument was that Meghan was not simply creating a lifestyle show. She was stepping into an aesthetic long associated with Catherine’s family world, the Carole Middleton party planning feel, the country cottage warmth, the flowers, the food, the family forward softness, and even the carefully staged domestic charm.
I did think it was cute to see them. I can’t believe I’m saying this. I just almost vomited in my own mouth. But I did think that their height difference was cute in the kitchen. Harry and Meghan’s. I was like, “Oh, that’s a cute little height difference.” But you know what? She is still a terri Barr also pointed to details like the lemon elderflower baking, the warm seasonal visuals, and the overall tone that felt less like a brand new Meghan Lane, and more like a version of something royal watchers had already
seen around the Middletons. According to royal insider reporting that same month, Meghan was furious about the copying claims. A Sussex source reportedly pushed back by saying “Catherine doesn’t own Christmas.” That is one way to answer the accusation. Another way would have been to create a show that did not remind so many viewers of Catherine’s family style in the first place.
Now, of course, unfortunately for the Sussexes, Catherine’s trip was wildly popular. There were literally people hanging out of balconies like a scene from Romeo and Juliet, you know, Caterina, Caterina. Entire villages shut down. Streets thronged. Now, it was The Plast was not thronged yesterday. That is one thing I can tell you for sure.
There were perhaps even more people attending a rally earlier in the day. Then came Geneva week, May 13 and 14, 2026. Catherine was in Reggio Emilia, Italy on her first major solo overseas trip since cancer treatment. This was a major return to the world stage and it carried real emotional weight.
The mayor of Reggio Emilia, Marco Massari, awarded her the city’s highest civic honor. Crowds gathered, cameras followed, and the symbolism was obvious. Catherine was not just back in public, she was back internationally, representing the monarchy with calm, dignity, and the kind of quiet force that has become her signature.
There were like 50 invited guests, I would say. You know, they were kind of the ministers of random, the Brazilian health minister. I mean, you know, they weren’t like didn’t seem like a particularly starry crowd, let’s put it that way. And another kind of 50 people watching around the edge.
The event had almost no pickup in the global media, to be really honest. There was virtually no other international journalists that traveled there. Catherine received the Primo Tricolore and the images from Reggio Emilia carried exactly the kind of soft royal power Kensington Palace knows how to build.
Children at a local preschool chanted, “Kate, Kate.” A tiny newt crawled onto her hand. She made tortelli with Italian grandmothers. She moved through the visit with warmth, calm, and just enough informality to make the whole thing feel natural. And then came the detail that made the coverage even stronger, her Italian. When a well-wisher complimented her, Catherine replied, “I need to practice my Italian.
” But teacher Roberta Marzi told reporters that Catherine had asked the children simple questions and said her Italian was perfect. “She spoke clearly,” Marzi said. That was the image Catherine left behind in Italy. Children chanting her name, local praise, a civic honor, and the polished return to solo royal duty after a very difficult year.
Three days later, on May 17, the scene shifted to Geneva, Place des Nations. Meghan stood at the World Health Organization’s Lost Green Memorial and delivered a speech about children, social media, and online harm. Royal commentator Tom Sykes was actually there in Geneva.
He filed his copy from the ground, which matters because he was not reacting from a studio or reading second-hand coverage. He saw the atmosphere himself. When Hazell used word rebrand with Meghan because the same name rebrands, but I think there’s no doubt really now that the Australia tour is an absolute disaster.
I mean, you know, the polling that came out of it was so brutal and um I think that clearly that you know, people did not like the mixing of the commerce with the service. Incidentally, Queen Elizabeth could have told them this 10 years ago, right? And his verdict was not exactly glowing. On his podcast, Sykes said, “It didn’t seem like a particularly starry crowd.
Let’s put it that way.” That line landed because of the contrast. Catherine had just come from Italy with public warmth, children chanting her name, and a civic honor in hand. Meghan, days later, appeared at a serious international event, but according to the journalist on the ground, the room did not carry the same public electricity.
Sykes also told his royalist audience that he believed the Geneva trip had been structured to recover from what he called the Australian catastrophe, referring to the Sussexes April 2026 tour. In his reading, Geneva was not a standalone humanitarian moment. It was the next page in the same public image playbook.
The fact that the royals are briefing directly to the Sun that the king wanted Beatrice and Eugenie to be there and wanted them to remain part of the family is obviously like a dagger in the heart to Harry and Meghan who are desperately trying to get back into the fold. It’s crazy, Dan, that they’re not invited just sends such a strong message as to where the younger royals stand on this issue, which is that I think especially the older generations, so we’re talking, you know, Peter and Zara who are closer in age to Harry and
William, in particular William, and and that the three of them are quite close, are looking at Harry and Meghan going, “We just don’t want any part of this dog and pony show that you two offer. This is going to be a a happy occasion, and if Harry and Meghan are there, it’s not a happy occasion anymore.
It’s stressful. It’s tense.” And then there was the Instagram post from the night before, the one we covered in detail on Monday. If you have not watched that breakdown yet, go back and watch it because it matters to this timeline. Sykes’s verdict on that post in his Daily Beast column was blunt, staggeringly tone-deaf.
So, there it was again, four days apart. Italy chanted Catherine’s name, while Geneva, according to the man who was actually there, did not feel like a particularly starry crowd. That was last week. That is entry eight on a list that started eight years ago with the wedding dress. Eight years, eight moments, and in every one the pattern is similar.
Catherine has a major royal moment or occupies a space first, and Meghan appears nearby in the timeline with something that royal commentators increasingly describe using the same word. Fixation. St. George’s Chapel in May 2018 was the first wedding comparison. Now, the next family wedding is only two weeks away, June 6th, 2026.
All Saints Church in Campbell. Peter Phillips, the late Queen’s eldest grandchild, will marry Harriet Sperling. And according to Hello Magazine’s exclusive reporting this month, Harry and Meghan are not on the guest list. That detail brings the whole pattern into sharper focus because the first comparison started at a royal wedding Meghan attended as the bride.
The next one may unfold at a royal wedding she is not invited to at all. Royal correspondent Emily Andrews said it plainly on the Catching Up With the Royals podcast. Peter probably didn’t invite Harry and Meghan because it’s too problematic. That one sentence closes the loop. Eight years after Meghan walked into St.
George’s Chapel as the royal bride, the next major family wedding is happening without her name on the guest list. Peter Phillips is marrying Harriet Sperling in two weeks, and according to the reporting, Harry and Meghan are not expected to be there. That is the pattern. That is the receipt.
Meghan spent years being compared to Catherine, stepping near Catherine’s lanes, Catherine’s projects, Catherine’s image, and Catherine’s public role. But the family has now reached the point where the next wedding is not about Meghan trying to outshine the Princess of Wales. It is about Meghan not being inside the room at all. And that may be the sharpest receipt of the whole timeline.
The first comparison began with a wedding dress. The latest ends with a wedding invitation that never came. Eight years of ambition, timing, overlap, and commentary have led here. The next move is hers. So, drop your verdict in the comments. After eight years of this pattern, what do you see? Coincidence, ambition, or fixation? I read every single one.
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