One of the earliest indications that Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah would not be the typical royal sit-down, complete with dodged questions and stiff upper lips, came just minutes into Sunday night’s broadcast.
Oprah asked the Duchess about the rumor that she had once made Kate Middleton cry during an argument about a trivial issue.
Meghan denied the allegation — and then stunned viewers by revealing that “the reverse” was true.
Yes, Meghan revealed on national television that Kate made her cry just days before she married Harry.
Much more damning revelations would follow, but this was the one that led viewers know early on what sort of conversation this would be.
And as with so many of the other claims Meghan made during the interview, this one comes with receipts.
Meghan began by confirming that she fought with Kate over details regarding her wedding.
She didn’t go into further detail, but for years, the rumor has been that Kate wanted Princess Charlotte to wear tights; the little girl didn’t want to, and Meghan sided with her.
Because really, who the hell cares if the flower girls are wearing tights at a wedding?
Anyway, this constituted one of breaches of royal protocol that Meghan was so often accused of during her time in the UK,
And so, Kate apparently thought the situation could be rectified by yelling at the bride a few days before her wedding.
“She made me cry and it really hurt my feelings,” Meghan revealed to Oprah.
“I thought, in the context of everything else that was going on in those days leading to the wedding, that it didn’t make sense to not be just doing whatever—what everyone else was doing, which was trying to be supportive, knowing what was going on with my dad and whatnot.”
Yes, all of this occurred as Thomas Markle decided to skip the royal wedding, leaving his daughter heartbroken.
In the week since the interview aired, many have expessed doubts about some of Meg’s more salcious comments.
But as royal reporter Omid Scobie points out, her story about the pre-wedding argument is backed up by emails that Meg sent over a year ago.
Before the Sussexes stepped down from their duties as senior royals, they were asked to sign a written statement informing the press that there was no truth to the rumors about Prince William bullying the couple.
Understandably reluctant, Meg first wanted to ensure that she and Harry would be protected from pernicious rumors in a similar fashion.
“Well, if we’re just throwing any statement out there now, then perhaps KP can finally set the record straight about me [not making Kate cry,” she wrote in an email.
In the end, Meghan signed the statement — but received none of the protection she inquired about.
“I did anything they told me to do,” Meghan told Oprah last week.
“Of course I did, because it was also through the lens of ‘And we’ll protect you,'” she added.
“So, even as things started to roll out in the media that I didn’t see but my friends would call me and say, ‘Meg, this is really bad,’ because I didn’t see it, I’d go, ‘Don’t worry. I’m being protected.'”
As we now know, Meghan and Harry were not protected at all — instead, it seems Meghan needed protection from her own in-laws.