Kate Middleton Found 'Abrasive' Meghan Markle Had 'An Agenda' Before Megxit, Royal Expert Claims

The first warning sign, as so often in royal stories, was the atmosphere in the room.

What had once been sold to the public as a fresh, modern 'Fab Four' – William, Catherine, Harry and Meghan shoulder to shoulder at charity events – was, behind palace walls, growing sour enough that even seasoned courtiers could feel the temperature drop. Now a new book claims that Princess Catherine privately found Meghan Markle 'abrasive,' believed she and Harry had 'an agenda,' and concluded earlier than most that the couple would ultimately walk away.

The claims come from royal editor Russell Myers in William & Catherine: The Intimate Inside Story, due to be published later this month. It is not, on the face of it, the sort of authorised hagiography Kensington Palace prefers. Myers paints a picture of Catherine – often depicted as the soothing presence between feuding brothers – realising that this particular rift could not be patched up with another carefully worded text or cosy family summit.

Russell Myers' Royal Expert Account of a Toxic Divide

According to Myers, Catherine had long tried to steady the relationship between William and Harry, regarding their earlier fallouts as little more than 'immaturity or stubbornness, on both sides.' That changed after Meghan's arrival and, crucially, the couple's alleged behaviour towards palace staff.

Harry and Meghan's attitude to the people who keep the royal machine running – the private secretaries, press aides and household staff William and Catherine are said to be 'deeply protective' of – was a turning point, Myers reports. The Prince and Princess of Wales came to feel, in his words, that the Sussexes 'had an agenda,' and that this was about more than simply teething problems with a newcomer learning the ropes.

'They definitely thought the Sussexes' behaviour stemmed from something more than being difficult,' he writes.

A source quoted in the book goes further, describing the atmosphere between the two couples as 'pretty toxic.' Meghan, they say, 'was being bullish, Kate found her abrasive. She saw the inevitability of the parting of ways, although perhaps not to the extent of what eventually happened.'

That last line is doing a lot of work. Few inside the palaces, even in the more paranoid corners, appear to have predicted that Oprah interview, or the Netflix series, or Harry's book Spare with its detailed catalogue of rows and resentments. But if Myers' account is right, Catherine could see the direction of travel while the public was still swooning over the 'modern monarchy' on magazine covers.

From 'Wonderful' First Meetings to Megxit Fallout

The contrast with how this relationship was initially presented is stark. When Harry and Meghan sat down for their engagement interview in 2017, the tone could hardly have been warmer.

Harry, speaking to BBC journalist Mishal Husain, recalled how keen his elder brother and sister‑in‑law were to meet Meghan once the relationship became serious. 'William was longing to meet her and so was Catherine,' he said, explaining that because they were neighbours they managed to see each other 'quite a few times.' He began to describe how 'Catherine has been absolutely...,' before Meghan jumped in with a single, decisive word: 'Wonderful.'

It was the carefully curated image of a family closing ranks around a new arrival. A few years later, Meghan's own description of those early dinners sounded rather different.

In the Sussexes' 2022 Netflix docuseries, she recalled the first time William and Catherine came over: 'They came over for dinner, I remember I was in ripped jeans and I was barefoot. I was a hugger. I've always been a hugger, I didn't realise that that is really jarring for a lot of Brits.'

What she discovered, she said, was that 'the formality on the outside carried through on the inside.' There wasn't, as she had assumed, a public mask that could be dropped once the front door closed. '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.'

It is hard not to see these as two fundamentally different expectations colliding. Meghan has framed her experience as one of emotional openness meeting a system frozen in protocol. Myers' reporting suggests that, from Catherine's side, a supposedly warm American informality could feel pushy, even hostile, especially when wrapped up with what was perceived as a challenging stance towards staff and hierarchy.

The truth, predictably, sits muddied between competing narratives, complicated by race, class, celebrity and the archaic weight of monarchy. What Myers' account does underline is that, long before the word 'Megxit' passed anyone's lips, one of the central players believed the experiment was doomed.

Four years on from Harry and Meghan's departure in 2020, the two couples are not thought to be on speaking terms. The 'pretty toxic' atmosphere has calcified into something colder and more permanent. Catherine, now undergoing cancer treatment, is still publicly silent on the entire saga. Meghan, in California, continues to tell her side, sometimes obliquely, sometimes with disarming bluntness.

If Myers is right, the Princess of Wales decided some time ago that there was nothing left to salvage. It is an uncomfortable but revealing thought: while the world was watching the fairy‑tale wedding, one of the women on the balcony may already have seen how the story would end.