I read more of Tina Brown’s The Palace Papers over the weekend, including the entrance of then-Meghan Markle into Windsor World. Brown is chaotic about Meghan, using racist dog whistles and trying to shame Meghan for… you know, being a successful working actress with ambition. One of the parts which irritated the f–k out of me was Brown’s section on the fakakta “tears at the bridesmaid’s dress fitting” story, which went down just days before Meghan and Harry’s 2018 wedding. For a full two-and-half years, we only heard Kate’s version of events, which is that “Meghan made Kate cry.” Kate appealed to the lowest common denominator, smearing a Black woman as aggressive and angry, so much so that Kate cried white tears. Then last year, Meghan corrected the story in the Oprah interview, saying Kate made her cry and that Kate brought a note of apology and flowers to her following the incident. Since then, Camp Middleton has been in shambles as they tried to explain away the massive discrepancy in their story.

In The Palace Papers, Brown slyly half-jokes that Meghan wanting the little girl bridesmaids to go without tights pushed Kate “to the brink of a panic attack.” Brown also suggests the idea that Kate and Meghan fought because Kate was “sick of standing around in the heat being bossed around by the not-quite-yet Duchess of Sussex.” Which is weird because the story always took place at a bridesmaid’s dress FITTING, meaning (surely) at a designer’s office or even at Windsor Castle, inside, where the children were being fitted. And “being bossed around,” really? What did Meghan boss around?

Then Brown goes on and on about how Meghan “demanded that the Palace denounce or correct the story” when it came out months later that she had made Poor Kate cry. Brown then acts as if Meghan was the one keeping the story alive in the press, like Kate and Middleton Manor didn’t keep repeating variations of the “Meghan made Kate cry” story for nearly three years to anyone who would listen. Brown accuses Meghan of “obsessing about the Palace’s refusal to correct the dopey bridesmaid story in answer to a questions she could have briefly dispensed with.” Then Brown notes this: “Kate said not a word after the Oprah interview, even if behind the scenes the Cambridge briefing machine worked overtime.” Well, that’s certainly interesting! I mean, we knew that – Middleton Manor (and KP too, probably) issued a flurry of denials and corrections, but they couldn’t do jacksh-t on the record because they’re terrified that Meghan still has Kate’s note of apology.

All of which means that the Middleton subterfuge is afoot. We’ve heard variations of “both women cried,” which doesn’t explain why Kate apologized and why Kate never felt strongly about correcting the racist lie (she had promoted in the first place). We also heard variations of “yes, okay, Kate went berserk on Meghan but it was for good reason, because Meghan is a bully!” Like going berserk on someone, lying about it for years and smearing your sister-in-law isn’t “bullying.”

I also find it repulsive that Brown has suggested that Meghan was solely obsessed with the story and that Meghan was wrong to want the palace to formally deny it or correct it. Meghan knew – as did everyone else – that she was a Black woman being accused of making a white woman cry. Meghan understood the racial dynamics at play and she knew how damaging the story was to her, in addition to being false. Plus, this wasn’t just one Telegraph story in late 2018. Kate and her team continued to push the lie in story after story for two and a half years.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.