Meghan Markle talking about the way the press treated Princess Kate before her marriage to has gone viral on .

The Duchess of Sussex compared her own difficult experience with the British press to an era in which Kate was nicknamed “Waity Katy.”

The name mocked the length of time Kate had been waiting for William to ask her to marry him and is one of a number of undermining stories that ran in the U.K. papers prior to their wedding in 2011.

A clip of Meghan discussing Kate’s experience with in 2021 went viral on TikTok, where it was viewed over 470,000 times and liked over 10,000 times.

In the footage, Meghan said: “Kate was called Waity Katie, waiting to marry William. While I imagine that was really hard, and I do, I can’t picture what that felt like … this is not the same.”

Why It Matters

Meghan’s Oprah Winfrey interview sent shockwaves through global media at the time she gave it. As time has passed, tensions have simmered, but this resurfacing puts the spotlight back on their frosty relationship.

Many of the responses to the viral TikTok post backed Kate rather than Meghan, despite the fact these remarks were among the less vigorously challenged at the time they were first spoken.

What To Know

The end of the Oprah clip was not shown in the video, but Meghan went on to say: “…And if a member of his [Harry’s] family will comfortably say we’ve all had to deal with things that are rude. Rude and racist are not the same.”

Meghan argued during the Oprah interview that press coverage of her introduction to the royal family had racist undertones.

The couple have said they asked Harry’s family for help and were told a rough ride in the media was simply an experience that all royals have to go through and the best strategy was to ignore it.

The duchess demanded an intervention in her defense by the wider royal family.

The History of the ‘Waity Katy’ Nickname

The “Waity Katy” nicknamed dated back to William and Kate’s long courtship in which the press speculated about the length of time it took the prince to propose.

Daily Mail columnist Amanda Platell was among those to use the nickname and later apologized in a column shortly after the couple’s wedding. “I had pointed out that Waity Katy was doing nothing but waiting around for her Prince to propose,” she said.

“I had called her lazy, and said that by the time Diana was Waity’s age, she’d headed an infant death charity and changed the world’s attitudes toward HIV Aids sufferers.

“‘What on earth does she do all day?’ I wrote of William’s ‘idle girlfriend.'”

She described William’s palace aides having a discreet chat with her to say the coverage was unfair: “I spluttered into my Chablis. What? The girl who had never held down a proper job by the age of 29 except in her parents’ at-home, online Party Pieces company?

“The woman more famous for her frocks than anything she’d said or done? A role model for young women? You must be joking, I said.”

However, in the piece, published the December after Kate and William’s April 2011 wedding, Platell wrote: “Well, now it looks like the joke was on me. Yes, I think I may have misjudged Kate Elizabeth Middleton.

“Whether clad in her High Street LK Bennett boots or her Jimmy Choos, Kate has not put a foot wrong since her engagement to William was announced.”

What People Are Saying

One fan replied to the video, writing: “Yes, but she also has the time to understand and learn how to be a princess. She get married with the knowledge what was expected from her and doing it flawlessly.”

Another wrote: “And now they call her HR The Princess of Wales. In a few they will call her The Queen.”

A third wrote: “Meghan, it’s not hard when you love someone; you will wait. Many young men went to war, and their girls waited for them to come back, even though some did not. Call your dad, mom, or sister.”

What Happens Next

It is not clear when Meghan will ever see Harry’s family again, short of another major royal funeral.

However, she has new projects to pursue in America, including promoting her cooking show, With Love, Meghan, which now comes out in March.

Williams Brown is chief royal correspondent for Regalrumination.com, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly , at and read his stories on Regalrumination.com‘s

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