The original “Crygate” story was reported by Camilla Tominey back in the fall of 2018. It was part of a major negative blitz against the Duchess of Sussex following the Sussexes’ successful South Pacific Tour. I remember people saying, at the time, that a bunch of the stories were coming out of Clarence House, meaning then-Prince Charles and his wife Camilla. Remember how Charles had a somewhat authorized biography out at the time? But I always believed that the “Meghan made Kate cry” story came straight from Kate and her people, meaning Kensington Palace briefings and/or Carole Middleton. It was just so racialized (“Black woman makes innocent white princess cry!”) and lacking in specificity, especially given what we know now about what actually happened behind-the-scenes. Well, months after Duchess Karen made Meghan cry just days before her wedding, Tominey’s story came out. In Spare, Harry details the conversation which happened in December 2018 in which he, Meghan, Kate and William sat down and figured out what happened:
We arranged a second summit with Willy and Kate. This time on our turf. December 10, 2018. Early evening. We all gathered in our little front annex, and this time there was no small talk: Kate got things rolling straightaway by acknowledging that these stories in the papers about Meg making her cry were totally false. I know, Meghan, that I was the one who made you cry.
I sighed. Excellent start, I thought. Meg appreciated the apology, but wanted to know why the papers had said this, and what was being done to correct them? In other words: Why isn’t your office standing up for me? Why haven’t they phoned this execrable woman who wrote this story, and demanded a retraction?
Kate, flustered, didn’t answer, and Willy chimed in with some very supportive-sounding evasions, but I already knew the truth. No one at the Palace could phone the correspondent, because that would invite the inevitable retort: Well, if the story’s wrong, what’s the real story? What did happen between the two duchesses? And that door must never be opened, because it would embarrass the future queen. The monarchy, always, at all costs, had to be protected.
We shifted from what to do about the story to where it came from. Who could’ve planted such a thing? Who could’ve leaked it to the press in the first place? Who? We went around and around. The list of suspects became vanishingly small. Finally, finally, Willy leaned back and conceded that, ahem, while we’d been on tour in Australia, he and Kate had gone to dinner with Pa and Camilla…and, alas, he said sheepishly, he might’ve let it slip that there’d been strife between the two couples…
I put a hand over my face. Meg froze. A heavy silence fell. So now we knew. I told Willy: You…of all people…should’ve known… He nodded. He knew. More silence. It was time for them to go.
[From Spare by Prince Harry]
A few things – it’s perfectly possible that William told Camilla and Charles that they’d been fighting with Harry and Meghan, and that Camilla had rushed out to tell everyone. I’m sure that happened, actually. But I always felt that the particular version was so odd and it had so many variations that it actually came from Kate and Carole Middleton. Like, those are the only two people who would have cared that much about positioning Meghan as the aggressor to Kate’s perfect weepy white Karen. So I would guess that Kate simply failed to mention that Carole was aggressively spreading stories too. Remember, Carole was suddenly very active in the media around this time, November and December 2018. I always thought there was some tit-for-tat with Carole spreading stories and giving interviews about Party Pieces.
I guess what I’m saying is that I appreciate that Harry is writing honestly about what was happening in real time and the discussions and confrontations, but I don’t think HE was being told the real truth. It’s also interesting that Charles, Camilla, William and Kate were having dinner while the Sussexes were on tour – that sounds like a planning session to me, especially given that the smear campaign against Meghan began right after that dinner.
I also don’t understand the whole “No one at the Palace could phone the correspondent, because that would invite the inevitable retort: Well, if the story’s wrong, what’s the real story?” Kensington Palace absolutely could have issued a very simply worded statement saying “The reports of Meghan making Kate cry are false.” Would there be additional questions? For sure. But they would have drawn a line in the sand and partially corrected the record without adding the part about “actually, Kate made Meghan cry.” Protecting Kate at all costs never meant smearing and lying about Meghan.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
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- Britain’s Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, foreground centre, sits with Prince William, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Charles, front row, Prince Andrew, background right, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, at the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey in London, Monday, March 11, 2019. Commonwealth Day has a special significance this year, as 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the modern Commonwealth – a global network of 53 countries and almost 2.4 billion people, a third of the world’s population, of whom 60 percent are under 30 years old.,Image: 531581560, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- Britain’s Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II from foreground are seated at the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey in London, Monday, March 11, 2019. Commonwealth Day has a special significance this year, as 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the modern Commonwealth – a global network of 53 countries and almost 2.4 billion people, a third of the world’s population, of whom 60 percent are under 30 years old.,Image: 531581572, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon sales@Avalon.red London +44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles +1 310 822 0419 Berlin +49 30 76 212 251 Madrid +34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- Britain’s Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex leave after attending the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey in London, Monday, March 11, 2019. Commonwealth Day has a special significance this year, as 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the modern Commonwealth – a global network of 53 countries and almost 2.4 billion people, a third of the world’s population, of whom 60 percent are under 30 years old.
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- The Duchess of Cambridge talks with the Duchess of Sussex at Westminster Abbey Commonwealth day service. Commonwealth Day has a special significance this year, as 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the modern Commonwealth, with old ties and new links enabling cooperation towards social, political and economic development which is both inclusive and sustainable. The Commonwealth represents a global network of 53 countries and almost 2.4 billion people, a third of the worlds population, of whom 60 percent are under 30 years old. Each year the Commonwealth adopts a theme upon which the Service is based. This years theme A Connected Commonwealth speaks of the practical value and global engagement made possible as a result of cooperation between the culturally diverse and widely dispersed family of nations, who work together in friendship and goodwill. The Commonwealths governments, institutions and people connect at many levels, including through parliaments and universities. They work together to protect the natural environment and the ocean which connects many Commonwealth nations, shore to shore. Cooperation on trade encourages inclusive economic empowerment for all people – particularly women, youth and marginalised communities. The Commonwealths friendly sporting rivalry encourages people to participate in sport for development and peace.
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- The Duchess of Cambridge sits near the Duchess of Sussex as they attend the Westminster Abbey Commonwealth day service. Commonwealth Day has a special significance this year, as 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the modern Commonwealth, with old ties and new links enabling cooperation towards social, political and economic development which is both inclusive and sustainable. The Commonwealth represents a global network of 53 countries and almost 2.4 billion people, a third of the worlds population, of whom 60 percent are under 30 years old. Each year the Commonwealth adopts a theme upon which the Service is based. This years theme A Connected Commonwealth speaks of the practical value and global engagement made possible as a result of cooperation between the culturally diverse and widely dispersed family of nations, who work together in friendship and goodwill. The Commonwealths governments, institutions and people connect at many levels, including through parliaments and universities. They work together to protect the natural environment and the ocean which connects many Commonwealth nations, shore to shore. Cooperation on trade encourages inclusive economic empowerment for all people – particularly women, youth and marginalised communities. The Commonwealths friendly sporting rivalry encourages people to participate in sport for development and peace.
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- The Duchess of Cambridge stands with the Duchess of Sussex at Westminster Abbey for a Commonwealth day service. Commonwealth Day has a special significance this year, as 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the modern Commonwealth, with old ties and new links enabling cooperation towards social, political and economic development which is both inclusive and sustainable. The Commonwealth represents a global network of 53 countries and almost 2.4 billion people, a third of the worlds population, of whom 60 percent are under 30 years old. Each year the Commonwealth adopts a theme upon which the Service is based. This years theme A Connected Commonwealth speaks of the practical value and global engagement made possible as a result of cooperation between the culturally diverse and widely dispersed family of nations, who work together in friendship and goodwill. The Commonwealths governments, institutions and people connect at many levels, including through parliaments and universities. They work together to protect the natural environment and the ocean which connects many Commonwealth nations, shore to shore. Cooperation on trade encourages inclusive economic empowerment for all people – particularly women, youth and marginalised communities. The Commonwealths friendly sporting rivalry encourages people to participate in sport for development and peace.
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- The Duchess of Cambridge sits near the Duchess of Sussex as they attend the Westminster Abbey Commonwealth day service. Commonwealth Day has a special significance this year, as 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the modern Commonwealth, with old ties and new links enabling cooperation towards social, political and economic development which is both inclusive and sustainable. The Commonwealth represents a global network of 53 countries and almost 2.4 billion people, a third of the worlds population, of whom 60 percent are under 30 years old. Each year the Commonwealth adopts a theme upon which the Service is based. This years theme A Connected Commonwealth speaks of the practical value and global engagement made possible as a result of cooperation between the culturally diverse and widely dispersed family of nations, who work together in friendship and goodwill. The Commonwealths governments, institutions and people connect at many levels, including through parliaments and universities. They work together to protect the natural environment and the ocean which connects many Commonwealth nations, shore to shore. Cooperation on trade encourages inclusive economic empowerment for all people – particularly women, youth and marginalised communities. The Commonwealths friendly sporting rivalry encourages people to participate in sport for development and peace.
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- The Duke and duchess of Cambridge stand with the duke and Duchess of Sussex at Westminster Abbey for a Commonwealth day service. Commonwealth Day has a special significance this year, as 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the modern Commonwealth, with old ties and new links enabling cooperation towards social, political and economic development which is both inclusive and sustainable. The Commonwealth represents a global network of 53 countries and almost 2.4 billion people, a third of the worlds population, of whom 60 percent are under 30 years old. Each year the Commonwealth adopts a theme upon which the Service is based. This years theme A Connected Commonwealth speaks of the practical value and global engagement made possible as a result of cooperation between the culturally diverse and widely dispersed family of nations, who work together in friendship and goodwill. The Commonwealths governments, institutions and people connect at many levels, including through parliaments and universities. They work together to protect the natural environment and the ocean which connects many Commonwealth nations, shore to shore. Cooperation on trade encourages inclusive economic empowerment for all people – particularly women, youth and marginalised communities. The Commonwealths friendly sporting rivalry encourages people to participate in sport for development and peace.
I’m glad Meghan and Harry are out of that mess. The Royal Family is a weird mess.
Yeah, at this point everything this family ‘firm’ does is so weird and dysfunction, it’s hard to take anything seriously.
William throwing Camilla under the bus to protect Carole as the source of this story is not the plot twist I saw coming.
Nope kate/Carol can’t get away with this! While I can imagine it was Camilla this time, the two smeared against Meghan just the same! If not more!
That is exactly what happened. Harry fell for it because Camilla’s history of leaking made her the preferred villain over Kate, an innocent incapable of treachery in Harry’s eyes. I have ABSOLUTELY no doubt that Meghan and her girlfriends know that Kate and her mother are behind spreading this particular story.
I think it’s both of them. I think Carole and Camilla are in cohoots!
Kate supplied the ball, which Camilla got rolling. The Fetid Four would never meet up if not to gossip and badmouth the Rockstar Royals. I can only imagine the Oscar-level double act Will and Kate pulled off to weave the story and arrive at the dinner with C&C. Maybe Harry really is that naive, or many it’s a calculated move: blame Camilla based on W&K’s story and have the Cow Consort come out swinging via her rota rat that it was Kate and Carole all along… *Fingers crossed this happens*
Also, “why haven’t they phoned this execrable woman who wrote this story and demand a retraction?” Lololol. Harry strait-up just called Camilla Tominey excrement. Also, in the Amol Rajan Princes and the Press podcast, Camilla Tominey says that she won’t write something unless she hears it from more than one source. So Camilla could not have been the only source.
A few things:
1. I’d be shocked if Kate and Carole weren’t leaking about Meghan.
2. That said, Camilla Tominey is a known liar who has made stuff up out of whole cloth, so I’d take her “assurance” that she needs two sources with so many grains of salt I’d fill up an ocean.
3. Camilla being the source of this particular story makes me wonder what else she leaked during this time…and now I fully understand CH’s worry about what would be said about her in Harry’s memoir.
Fair point about CT being a known liar and applying it to the 2 sources thing. I can just really see her talking to both Camilla and Carole before publishing the crying story.
Harry doesn’t think Kate is innocent at all. You have to remember that Camilla hated Kate and her family until Meghan came along. Then, to improve the relationship, Kate and cowmilla worked together to smear the real threat to them, Meghan.
I love that Harry keeps dropping seemingly benign details, of the worst of Cannot/Willnot vs. Chuck and Cam, and then waits to see what happens.
Which couple is going to deny they had dinner at all while Meghan and Harry were on their very successful tour? Who is going to pop up to say that Willnot, Cannot, Cam, and Chuck have never, ever been at the same table for dinner, so this must be LIES! This feels like an Uncle Gary moment.
Stay tuned, the royal family and British media will tell us all, one million times, how very wrong Harry is for even breathing, much less mentioning dinner. It’s definitely all Meghan’s fault.
Ooh this is interesting. And it actually would kind of fit – if Camilla just heard that there were tears with no real details, it would explain why the story kept shifting. But for Camilla to have run to the press with it, she at least would have had to know that someone cried. That’s more than just “discussing some strife” or whatever.
So my next questions are: Did W&K tell C&C that Kate was the one who cried, or did Camilla lie to the press about Meghan making Kate cry? how much detail did W&K go into about this incident, and did they tell C&C the truth or did they lie? Was this more W&K covering their tracks so Harry didn’t realize the leak came from the Middletons?
Because that’s my sticking point with this being from Camilla – I don’t think she would have gone to Camilla Tominey with this. If the DM had this story first, I would 100% believe it was Cams. But Tominey screams Middleton to me.
And its interesting that for Harry, giving the story to CAmilla seems just as bad as giving it directly to the press.
And finally, yes, that dinner with W&K and C&C while the Sussexes were on tour sure does sound like a “Great Smear Campaign Planning Dinner” doesn’t it??
They sure weren’t gathering to discuss how impactful and exemplary the Sussexes were and how they were becoming instant rock stars in the family. Or maybe they were, just they thought these things were bad.
Also, this is when the stories of the baby reveal at Eugenie’s wedding began leaking too. This was a concerted, joint effort. They’d gathered to divvy up the smears and leaks and discuss the timing for their assigned, respective character assassination attemps.
So I just wrote this above but I’ve always remembered Camilla Tominey saying in the Princes and the Press podcast by Amol Rajan that she won’t print something unless she has two verified sources. So let’s say Camilla leaks to her first and then Tominey rings up Carole to confirm the story and get extra details. We already know Tominey attended pippa’s wedding as a guest. And apparently the story becomes Meghan made Kate cry.
Yeah, part of me does and part me doesn’t believe Camilla is culpable. On the one hand, with every story you have to ask, Who benefits from this narrative? The bridesmaid-tears story clearly makes Kate look good. It does nothing for Camilla. So why would Camilla be invested in spreading this story?
On the other hand, you don’t go from being a sidepiece to a Queen Consort by playing nice, and this very well could have been part of her long game– sowing discord between the brothers, a kind of divide-and-conquer approach. She indirectly benefits from the bridesmaid-tears story, in that it keeps her away from the headlines ,and all the bad press is directed at Meghan and the brotherly strife… making her look sane, placid, etc by default.
Either way, what I’ve learned from the stories from Spare & the press is that Camilla is far worse than I had assumed! So cold, calculated and conniving. Utterly ruthless. Real GoT vibes from that one.
It does make Kate look good, which is why I don’t believe Kate and William just happened to tell this story to Camilla, a known leaker, while Harry and Meghan were away on the massively successful oceana tour. It was told to Camilla because she is a known leaker. William all of the sudden remembering that they told Camilla. Come on. And then oh I’m so sorry we can’t correct it. Evil is evil.
@Naomi right? That’s something we’ve discussed for years when a story leaks. Who looks bad here? Who looks good? The lies about Harry going to rehab as a teenager were allowed to stand because it made Charles look good and garnered sympathy for him. And we can follow the trail from there.
This story made Meghan look bad, but it didn’t impact Camilla at all. I can absolutely believe she was leaking, but Harry seemed to make it clear that she was leaking and planting and such in order to bolster her own image. This did nothing for her image. Was just hurting Meghan enough? Was it more that this was just another piece of currency in her relationship with the press?
@Jais and I think you have a good point there too. Even if Camilla did leak the story – she got it from W&K and that was no accident.
I would buy that Camilla maybe corroborated the story, but I don’t think she would’ve been the one to initially leak it, and even if she did she wouldn’t have gone to Tominey. Plus, even if Camilla was the one who leaked, it still doesn’t answer whether W & K lied to her about who cried, or whether Camilla herself made up the lie. Tominey also could’ve just been told there were tears and decided to spin it into this saga knowing nobody would correct her as long as her ire was directed at Meghan.
IDK, this version leaves so many questions still unanswered and combined with everything else it all just smacks of Harry wanting to believe the Cambridges weren’t actively, intentionally behind the attacks when it’s so obvious that they were.
This whole story reminds me of the meme with the hot dog car crashed into the building and the guy in the hot dog suit saying “We’re all trying to find the guy who did this!” (and Will is the one dressed as a hot dog, lol).
lol that skit is classic. and perfectly captures the royal family/british media mobius strip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLfAf8oHrMo
That last part is so important! They don’t owe the press the real story.
Or even if they felt they did owe the press the whole story if they contradicted it, then why couldn’t Kate plan a shopping trip with Meg? Or get photographed at en event in happy/thoughtful conversation? Or stand beside her at a bloody polo match and let her hold Louis? There are hundreds of small ways they could have refuted this story without compromising Kate’s future status. They didn’t want to.
I feel like Harry’s right and it probably was Camilla. Because Kate and the Middletons just aren’t that cunning. The crygate thing ended up having so many accusations and layers — the one I saw most was that Meghan supposedly bullied Charlotte. Trying to fight it is still like trying to fight smoke. Kate and her family just aren’t that advanced.
Camilla though? Camilla knows this game.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Camilla leaked this to a Middleton mouthpiece on purpose, so she wouldn’t get caught leaking.
If Harry says it’s Camilla I believe him the woman has been at it since the days of Diana leaking phoning the press Twitter actually published tabloids titles about Meghan being the exact what was written about Diana at that time
Right, so let’s sacrifice the black/biracial American duchess for the white English rose. They can parrot the “we must not embarrass the future Queen” narrative but Kate and William knew what they were doing when they told that story to Camilla and Charles. Did they REALLY not think that Camilla or Charles wouldn’t leak the story? Of course Camilla got the details wrong, either on purpose or because she’s too drunk on martinis (I don’t know what her fave drink is lol) to get things correct. But it’s like a game of telephone, the story gets twisted and fake details get added on each retelling secondhand, third hand, fourth hand etc.
I’m of two minds on this – if Will is telling the truth, I’m sure they knew exactly what they were doing giving this story to Charles and Camilla. Maybe just plausible deniability so they could say they didn’t give it to the press? But on the other hand, Will could also just be lying to deflect the blame from the Cambridges.
I don’t think Carole spread the stories.
Too risky and too close a connection. Also that version of the story is the tabloid/Royal PR version of a missile. They employ political minds for the role of press secretary/dropping missiles. It’s not the sort of thing they’d sent the CEO of party pieces off to war with…. Plus why would she ? It creates drama around her daughter and could have drawn a response from a “source” in response….
Come to think of it, why did the Sussexes never brief themselves on that story ? Why did they never say that it was untrue and that they can prove that’s not what happened and they’re risking a court case if they continue to publish the wrong version of events as concrete ?
I think far more likely that Jason Knauff or someone strategic was given the story.
I think it’s an act of desperation and something you’d do to take the heat off a story like the rose cheating thing. They had to deliver something good and got desperate. They were willing to use a story that was mean to Meghan cos they thought she was taking centre stage in Australia…
@Ali – The Sussexes weren’t allowed to correct the story. The only reason we know “Kate made Meghan cry” is because she used it as an example in the Oprah interview.
@Alii, the Sussexes have been trying to break the dirty cycle of briefing in the press. Hence why they never released the ample evidence they have against the bullying claims!
a cheeky little G&T…
not a direct quote, but close enough, and I felt like A’Whora the drag queen really encapsulated it the best.
What really strikes me is “You…of all people…should’ve known…” They both knew Camilla was a viper and couldn’t be trusted. And now William and Camilla are joining together in questioning Harry’s sanity? Palace intrigue, indeed.
What if William threw Camilla under the bus and its actually them
That was my very first thought as well.
Oh, they were definitely have a war council once they saw how the Australia tour was going. A bunch of weak-willed, useless group of people.
1000%
That balcony event was the final straw, I’ll die on that hill.
There was definitely a war council where they decided to smear Meghan, that was their common goal.. remember the great instigator, their jealousy for Meghan and Harry’s success in Australia. I believe there was a unanimous decision to give the story distorted to the press.. they all benefited from it..
Hundreds of years from now, if the earth is still here, people will STILL be talking about this story. At this point, I’m sure aliens on other planets have heard about it.
😆😂🤣
Call me childish :0 but I love that he calls him Willy, which of course in the UK is slang for d*ck.
It is in the US too, though generally only kids use it. By the time we’re around 10-12 we’ve moved on to a wider range of slang. That “willy” is juvenile slang just makes it fit him even better.
There’s actual history behind William calling Harry “Harold”. In 1066, William the Conqueror defeated the English king, Harold, at the Battle of Hastings. That was the beginning of Norman rule in England. William is rubbing it in every time he calls Harry “Harold”.
Except Harry’s name is Henry. Not Harold.
I know and so does William. I’m sure when he says “Harold” it drips with disdain.
They’re all responsible, idc. Doesn’t matter where it came from or who. It was leaked and it wasn’t corrected. They’re all responsible.
Absolutely agree. They are all responsible. Even if it was only leaked from Camilla, which I don’t believe, Kate and William just happen to sit down to dinner and tell a version of the story in which Kate is the victim to Camilla who they know full well is a notorious leaker. And conveniently couldn’t correct.
GOOD king Harry beat the French. Wills underlying fear of Harry as the warrior King. Remember Diana said Harry would make a better King.
It could’ve been both, although Camilla is a known strife-maker.
It could’ve been Carole and Camilla.
Camilla is a real nasty piece of work
I still think it’s Carole and not Camilla. Sorry, it just doesn’t make sense for Camilla Tominey to have the story if it was anyone other than Ma Midds or Kate.
In the rush to protect the future queen, they’ve made her, the current queen and the entire institution look horrible. Great job guys!
Okay I gotta be honest I did not think Camilla had this much involvement in the leaks against Meghan but wow this has been eye opening. Yes we’ve figured out a lot but I also think it’s okay to admit that I was wrong. No wonder Harry said Camilla had sacrificed him on his PR road to Queen.
There’s so much more mess that goes on behind the scenes. But they all still get the blame for never correcting the lie.
I don’t understand how correcting this story would have “embarrassed” the Queen? Surely it’s more embarrassing to have it that the two duchesses were fighting?
Unless he meant Camilla the future queen consort. But even so, this story was messy and dragged on and on. If the palace wanted to shut it down, there were plenty of ways – Kate being photographed with Meghan or getting involved with one of her charities, like Smart set? An easy win.
I think they were talking future future queen Kate making Megan cry
And they keep saying that Meghan is jealous of Kate, lol. Of what, all those buttons-tsunamis, coat-dresses in every colour, the vapidity, a boorish husband, the constipated little hats, (stolen from another CB’er), and double jowls before age 40? Really? THere is zero substance to her “public life.” She can barely get an articulate sentence out.
All Kate had to do was to say that the story was false. Period. She didn’t.
My headcanon on this story was that post partum Kate did cry, just not at the moment she was dealing with Meghan. I always thought it was more about their being such a huge event where another woman was going to be the center of attention. There would totally be tears over that, which were explained away by being a caring mother’s tears over her daughter’s ill fitting dress.
And Kate would have been horrible to any woman Harry married and tried to sabotage the wedding attention in some way. Race magnified it and also drew in allies she might not have had, especially in the media.
I still remember the moment during Meghan and Harry’s wedding when the camera panned over to Camilla and you can see her saying something and then Kate trying to hide a nasty smirk.
The most interesting thing about Kate in Harry’s book is how minor her role is. She doesn’t like it when Meghan hugs her, dislikes sharing lip gloss and, as far as I can tell, never sees Meghan crying over the dress quarrel because Harry finds Meghan crying alone at home about the infamous dresses. It’s hardly the portrait of an evil scheming monster. The Middletons are never even mentioned in any press excepts I’ve seen. Looks like a lot of theories are flat out wrong and Harry even mentions that Kate was also badly treated by the press.
She IS an evil scheming monster though. Nothing you and other Kate fans/sympathizers say will change that fact.
…Yeah, I still can’t get worked up over Kate, I still think she’s mostly an nonentity. Definitely Mean Girl vibe in here, but doesn’t strike me as the initiator like Willy-boy.
I am neither a fan nor a sympathizer, she’s not that interesting to pick a side over to me 😛
While I think Camilla is trash ans I completely believe she works with the British media to destroy people who outshine her . I 💯 believe that this story was all Kate and her mummy and willy knows it . Camila won’t care enough about Kate’s imaginary tears unless it made her look good in the public eye and since this story didn’t help Camila,as in only late was seen as the delicate white rose , I truly believe it came from Kate and her mummy
@Over it. +1
Liars. The whole lot.
I think Camilla and Kate with the help of Kate mother leaked the story to different royal reporters that why there been so many versions of the story . I think William knew that Kate and her mother leaked the story but he decided to throw Camilla under the bus to try to show Harry he still on his side . Kate was determined for the beginning to be a bitch to Meghan because of jealous envy .
I think the story came from Camilla and Carole. Camilla was probably the first contact and then it was confirmed by Carole. Camilla Tominey boasted that her sources were impeccable.
I agree, Camilla dropped the crumb but Carole had baked and frosted the cake. Kate had provided all the ingredients.
I would like to know WHO paid for the flowers and card of apology. I sure hope it wasn’t expensed to the Duchy, but with this bitch, I wouldn’t put it past her. Not a foot wrong my ass.
No it wasnt ….that was William and Kate throwing Camilla under the bus. And that was Harry always believing his brother no matter the evidence in front of him.
That could very well be the case. I’m so divided. As in they could have leaked it to Camilla on purpose while trying to keep their hands clean. Or William made it up and was throwing Camilla under the bus. If he is throwing her under the bus, all I can say is, he better watch his back.
They are all — Camilla, William, Kate, Carole — vile racists who knew they could weaponize Kate’s white woman tears against Meghan.
“Spare” confirms what most of us already knew: Camilla is a predatory monster. William is an abuser. Ma Midds is conniving. Kate is a stupid and self-centered Karen.
The bottom line is that the palaces had a chance to correct this story, but Meghan was fed to the wolves to shield those who outranked her (but are, in all the most important ways, far inferior to her).
I don’t think this info entirely exonerates Kate because she didn’t ever correct it and her actual behaviour in front of the public has been awful. However, I am inclined to believe that Camilla was the one who set it off and sent it to Tominey. Camilla has extensive media connections with everyone, which we are only now discovering. She could have contacted Tominey directly or indirectly and said she was told this at a dinner with the two and that’s enough for Tominey to write it.
It would makes sense because Meghan and Kate did seem to be ok at the first Christmas event and Wimbledon even though the story had gone out by then. If Meghan believed that Camilla was behind it and that they felt they couldn’t correct it, that’s why she was ok with Kate. It’s also why she said kate was a good person because in her mind she knew kate apologized and Camilla used that story, as she did many others to protect her position. Harry knows Camilla was throwing both him and William under the bus for years. This is the part the public wasn’t really aware of until recently.
Carole Middleton isn’t innocent, but she’s not dumb and she would of course know that a story about Kate crying would make her a prime suspect. She went after Meghan in the interview about speeches, and then uncle Gary and his nonsense. But she may not have been involved.
So maybe there is plausible deniability with kate and Carole, but the instigator of that story being Camilla does fit.
And of course that dinner was a meeting to discuss going after the popular couple. One thing I picked up on all the interviews from Harry is that they all read the tabloids way too much.
“It would makes sense because Meghan and Kate did seem to be ok at the first Christmas event”
Are you talking about Christmas 2018? Personally I thought things weren’t quite right at that walk. Kate seemed oddly eager to chat with Meghan despite being rather snooty at other family events in those first few months post-wedding. Meghan seemed more reserved and a bit guarded at times as they walked and talked. I think this was also the Christmas walk where it seemed like Will had a fight with Kate and distanced himself as she walked closer to Harry and Meghan.
Their first Christmas was in 2017 and their first Wimbledon outing was July 2018; this story broke in the fall of 2018, so those outings were pre Cry-gate (as a story, it had obviously happened before Wimbledon).
As an intelligent and curious person like Meghan, I would lose my absolute effing mind if I had to spend this much time and energy on gossip and petty lies in an attempt to keep my reputation in tact against dumb people. Harry…Meghan is too good for this sh1+ and working for the monarch was and is a great insult to her intelligence and capabilities. My god, a strategy summit with Will and Kate over a who made who cry over toddlers’ bridesmaids dresses?!
And William lied. He and Kate leaked the story directly to that execrable woman.
I don’t have the book yet. Does Harry actually say he believes William, or is it just left hanging, for us to conclude that Kate and William were there to pull one over on Harry?
Yes. It’s like being a temp and, day one, walking into an office of vipers, all back biting against each other and then turning on the new common enemy, you. It’s horrible.
The thing is, this wasn’t a leak because the story that ran wasn’t true. Someone – whether Camilla or Kate or Camilla Tominey – actively lied. IMO that’s completely different than leaking a true story. So, even if we believe Will’s version of events (which I don’t), it still doesn’t answer who LIED. Did Will & Kate lie to Charles and Camilla? Did Kate lie to everyone? Did Camilla lie to Camilla T? Did Camilla T make up a more salacious story just for the hell of it?
Part of me wonders if this is Harry’s roundabout way of demonstrating the frustration and madness you feel when trying to unravel these tangled webs, and part of me wonders if legally he can’t flat-out make accusations that would be hard to prove and so he avoids actively saying his brother lied to him but just lays it all out for us to draw our own conclusions. Either way, it’s incredibly frustrating and at the end of the day none of it matters – it doesn’t matter if Kate lied or Will lied or Camilla lied or they all lied. What matters is the lie ran on the front pages for weeks and nobody ever defended Meghan. They’re all culpable, none of them deserve to be let off the hook.
Jeebus, this is getting Shakespearean at this point. I could totally see The Bard writing a play about this level of crazy.
Haven’t read the book yet – does Harry specifically say when the conversation about this baby brain comment took place? Was it on the same text thread / Convo about the dresses, or on a totally different occasion far removed from them? I wonder if Kate and William vented to Charles and Camilla and referred to a few things at once – including flower girl dress agreement and/or also possibly Kate crying (maybe on a separate occasion?) about this baby brain thing and Camilla conflated the two and ran to gossip to press sources about it? It doesn’t surprise me, Camilla seems to have awfully loose lips – which also begs the question why William and Kate even brought this stuff up to her – possibly they knew from experience that she might leak it and in this case we’re happy to let her do their dirty work?
The thing I take away from all of the excepts that have been under discussion so far is that Harry led a sad existence in that family before Meghan. That existence was so sad and toxic that he preferred the theatre of war to it. Then that toxicity sucked him back in and denied him the refuge of life as a soldier. Against all odds, he found a woman equipped to be his partner in this difficult life he inherited. But, yet again, the atmosphere of his “royal” life was so poisonous it nearly extinguished the life of his wife and their unborn child.
It is very hard for me to envision the carve out that could make that life survivable. So, I hope Harry’s indication that a limited role for him (and Meghan?) within the family business is still a possibility is merely his way of extending an olive branch to the UK royals. Maybe it’s his way of giving the RF an opportunity to make the split appear more mutual and amicable, so they can impose a cease fire and all move forward without the acrimony. Idk.