It’s no secret that Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton clashed over bridesmaid dresses ahead of Meghan and Prince Harry’s royal wedding in 2018.

Initial reports suggested that Meghan had made Kate cry during a disagreement over the outfits – which the Suits actress later denied.

In his new book, Yes, Ma’am: The Secret Life Of Royal Servants, Tom Quinn claims both women were ‘really upset’ by the situation. 

A former member of staff told the author: ‘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!’

The unnamed employee went on to explain that the incident was ‘subtly altered’ and ‘made more significant than it really is’ by the media.

This resulted in the disagreement becoming a ‘marker for all the other problems that Meghan had with Kate and with William and other members of the family’.

However, Meghan gave a different version of events in her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey. 

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle gave a bombshell interview with Oprah in 2021, with the duchess suggesting one royal family member had raised concerns about the colour of their son Archie’s skin

It’s no secret that Meghan and Kate Middleton clashed over Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress ahead of Meghan and Prince Harry’s royal wedding in 2018

In his book Revenge, Tom Bower claimed that sources told him Meghan and Kate had a dispute over the length of Charlotte’s hemline and the overall fit of her dress

She insisted that she was the one who had been hurt in the exchange, not Kate. 

Meghan explained that Kate was upset about something but later took responsibility, apologised, and even brought her flowers. 

‘It wasn’t a confrontation,’ Meghan said. ‘I don’t think it’s fair to her to get into the details of that, because she apologised.

‘What was hard to get over was being blamed for something that not only I didn’t do but that happened to me.

‘And the people who were part of our wedding were going to our comms team and saying, “I know this didn’t happen. I don’t have to tell them what actually happened”.’ 

The discussion served as yet another example of Queen Elizabeth’s famous phrase, ‘recollections may vary,’ which she famously used in response to the concerns raised by Harry and Meghan regarding racial issues. 

At the time, royal expert Katie Nicholl claimed that Kate found it ‘mortifying’ that their disagreement had reached the press, as she never wanted it to become public knowledge. 

While Meghan’s interview sought to put the rumours to rest, Harry reignited the discussion in his memoir, Spare, providing new details about the dispute. 

Kate and Meghan in the Royal Box on Centre Court at Wimbledon in 2019, a year after their bridesmaid dress row

Meghan and Kate speak on stage at the First Annual Royal Foundation Forum in 2018

Kate walked ahead of Meghan during Queen Elizabeth II’s lying-in-state in London’s Westminster Hall

According to Harry, Kate messaged Meghan in the days leading up to the wedding, expressing concerns about the bridesmaid dresses – specifically Charlotte’s. 

Meghan suggested that Kate take Charlotte to a tailor at the palace for adjustments. 

Later, when the two women spoke in person, Kate reportedly insisted that Charlotte’s dress was too big and had made her cry when she tried it on.

Meghan, already overwhelmed by wedding preparations, was distressed by the conversation. 

Harry wrote that when he returned home, he found his fiancee sobbing on the kitchen floor, overcome with stress.

However, he also noted that Kate later came to their house with a card and flowers as an apology. 

Though the incident continues to be disputed, it remains one of the most talked-about moments leading up to the Sussexes’ wedding – and a lingering factor in the family’s rift.