The Duke and Duchess of Sussex plan to move into Frogmore Cottage, one of the prettiest “cottages” within the Windsor Castle estate. There was some talk about whether Meghan and Harry would move into a more spacious apartment within Kensington Palace, but that idea seemed doomed from the start. It would have meant relocating some elderly royals (the Gloucesters), and it would have meant having the Sussexes live next door to the Cambridges. We’ve heard in recent months that the plan is to separate the brothers’ office, and have two royal courts, the Sussex court and the Cambridge court. I thought that was a good idea. I always have. But I always thought that Meghan and Harry would have a home in central London, but apparently their rival court is now going to be in Windsor. So why is that? The Mail on Sunday claims it’s because there’s a strain between William and Harry, and that strain is because Meghan and Kate don’t get along.
They were the closest of brothers, with the loss of their mother only solidifying the fraternal bond between Prince William and Prince Harry as they grew up. But, now, as married men with responsibilities, cracks appear to be showing in their relationship – and it could be their wives who are pulling them apart.
It emerged yesterday that Harry and his wife Meghan are to move out of Kensington Palace next month to set up home at Frogmore Cottage on the Windsor estate. News of the move comes after reports that the princes, who both have homes at the Palace, may be ready to set up separate courts. The developments could reignite speculation of a rift between the Royal siblings – but a close friend of the Cambridges last night suggested any unease was between their wives.
‘Kate and Meghan are very different people,’ the source said, adding: ‘They don’t really get on.’
Rumours of tensions between the Sussexes and Cambridges have been bubbling away for months. In contrast to Meghan and Harry’s cottage at Kensington Palace, Kate and William have a 22-room home recently refurbished at a cost of £4.5 million. The Sussexes wanted to move into a Palace apartment currently used by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. But sources claimed the apartment ‘needs to undergo considerable lengthy refurbishments’ meaning that no one else could move in ‘for the foreseeable future’. In fact, they said, the Gloucesters were happy to downsize into a smaller property. The pair will move to the Old Stables in a different part of the palace grounds in the new year.
[From The Daily Mail]
Huh, that’s an interesting note about the Gloucesters, isn’t it? They ARE moving, and downsizing to another royal property. It’s more than possible that all of the speculation about Meg and Kate not getting along is just rumor-mongering and “making up a story” for what is a more complicated situation with all of the palaces and renovations and such. If the Gloucesters are leaving their KP apartment in the next year, it’s totally possible – in my mind – that Harry and Meghan will eventually have that apartment, but it’s just not happening for them right now. It’s almost like royal-palace-events have conspired to separate the Cambridges and Sussexes for a year or so, just to give everyone a breather, and let Meghan give birth in peace, and enjoy a maternity leave outside of central London.
Now, as for the main speculation about Kate and Meghan not getting along – I think it’s true, in the sense that they’ve never really seen each other as friends or sisters-in-law. They were never going to be BFFs. But it’s a lot more complicated than that – Harry has needed his own court and his own press office for years before Meghan even came around. It’s not that Meghan’s entrance suddenly meant that there was a rift between Harry and William – that rift has been there all along, and Meghan’s entrance just helped define it. As much as the Keen Defenders complain about the idea that Meghan and Kate are competing with each other, the real competition has always been between William and Harry.
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