Over the weekend, the Daily Mail leaned into the fact that they’re not going to say one thing about the Princess of Wales’s disappearing act, nor will they discuss Prince William’s increasingly odd/creepy makeover. Instead, they’re going all-in on their years-long strategy of just screaming and crying about the Duchess of Sussex. The thing is, Meghan isn’t giving them much. She’s been making some quiet, low-key appearances here and there. She’s investing in female-owned businesses. She’s probably prepping her cooking show and her American Riviera Orchard line. So what can the Mail do with that? A whole lotta nothing. So they decided to dust off a storyline which is over seven years old.
For what it’s worth, I guess relatively new Sussex fans might not remember this vital part of the Sussex mythology, but in 2017, the Middletons freaked the f–k out about Prince Harry potentially bringing his beautiful American girlfriend to Pippa Middleton’s Bucklebury wedding. I still believe that this was the start of the Middletons doing way too much around Harry’s relationship with Meghan. Ahead of Pippa’s May 2017 wedding, the Middletons were openly briefing the Mail, the Mirror and everyone else about how Harry shouldn’t bring Meghan to the wedding. They devised what they thought was a clever ruse: “no ring, no bring.” The rule only applied to Meghan. Behold, the Mail’s top royal story on Saturday: “Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s excitement at attending Pippa Middleton’s wedding together was short-lived after they discovered the bride’s unusual request.”
Not yet engaged and less than a year into their relationship, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were set to enjoy Pippa Middleton’s wedding reception in each other’s company. But the Princess of Wales’s younger sister had other ideas – with a strict seating plan that separated every couple in attendance.
It meant that instead of spending the evening together as a new couple, Harry was sat with ITV News at Ten presenter Tom Bradby while Meghan dined with Roger Federer’s wife Mirka. Guests enjoyed a meal of trout and lamb at the 2017 nuptials of Pippa and hedge fund manager James Matthews, washed down with ‘2002 Dom Ruinart Champagne’, according to Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand’s biography of the Sussexes, Finding Freedom.
‘Sitting together in the custom glass marquee that had been erected on the 18-acre property should have been a fun night for the couple, but, per Pippa’s request, no couples sat together,’ they wrote. Harry and Meghan, who was still new to royal circles at the time, reunited near the dance floor after the meal. And while ‘the old Harry would have certainly closed at the bash with the rest of his friends’, Mr Scobie and Ms Durand note that the then 32-year-old prince instead spent the remainder of the evening catching up with his girlfriend.
The seating chart was not the only challenge faced by the pair that day, with Meghan absent from the ceremony at St. Mark’s Church in Englefield, West Berkshire. Pippa and her mother, Carole Middleton, apparently shared concerns that the presence of the royal couple might overshadow the big day. The future Duke and Duchess of Sussex eventually agreed it would be best for Meghan to avoid the church and media.
The authors of Finding Freedom say that Harry and Meghan then came up with a plan which saw them drive out to Berkshire on the day of the wedding. Meghan stayed in an Airbnb that a close friend had rented on her behalf while Harry attended the service in Englefield. Meghan did her own makeup and put on a black dress before Harry returned to the Airbnb for a spot of lunch with his partner. He then drove them both to the reception at the Middleton’s Bucklebury home.
What was the purpose of this trip down memory lane? The Mail included no new information, unless you count “Pippa and her mother, Carole Middleton, apparently shared concerns that the presence of the royal couple might overshadow the big day” as new info. Carole was practically calling up the Mail every day in 2017 to share her concerns about Meghan doing this or that, so no, it’s not news that Pippa and Carole basically told Harry that his girlfriend couldn’t come to the wedding. I always sort of wished that Harry had told the Middletons to go f–k themselves with this drama. It’s one thing for a bride to say “no kids at my wedding.” It’s quite another to say “no prince can bring his Black American girlfriend.” Harry should have called their bluff – they obviously wanted him to come, but they were trying to badger him in the press to leave Meghan in London. He should have just said “we’re skipping the wedding, congrats to Pippa or whatever her name is.”
I genuinely fear that the purpose of this piece was to say “Meghan is the worst, she didn’t let Harry party with his friends!” But it’s just reminding everyone that the Middletons are classless, tacky and that they were intensely insecure about Meghan from the start.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN.
My god they are so incredibly desperate because they have absolutely nothing new to report so we are going back in the archives for this useless piece of drivel. The leftovers are so boring and unwilling to work that this is what’s left for their gutter press bedmates to print. Her is a tip gutter press: how about printing the truth about your leftovers. I’m sure you have enough dirt on them to bring so many clicks to your articles that you will be rolling in the dough. Go ahead just do it!
When Meghan has light hair, I have a really hard time telling her apart from Pippa.
I saw this discourse back in the day and was left confused. They look nothing alike. They’re brunettes and that’s it. Pippa has a round, flat-ish face and was tanning like a fiend. Absolutely not.
Because only certain people *cough deranger cough* thinks that. Pippa looks nothing like Meghan. Pippa has an extremely hard face. But certain types of people lurv repeating it.
Really? Huh. I genuinely don’t see that.
I mean, since Pippa tans a lot and prefers natural looking make-up, from a far, they look similar. However, there is no way you can’t separate the two. They have different face shape and bone structure.
They tried to make that look alike happen.
Didn’t Karl Lagerfeld say that “GOD FORGOT TO GIVE PIPPA LOOKS” 🤣🤣
@swaz, WHAT!!! 😆😆😆
Pippa resembles another hard-faced married-in — Wallis Simpson.
You are so correct that they look like twins as they both have 2 eyes, 2 ears, 1 nose and 1 mouth. That is the only thing they have in common.
Agreed. Harry would’ve been better off skipping the whole thing. I wonder why they went, under the circumstances.
Probably, that would be another storyline that how Meghan didn’t allow Harry to attend without her, the angry black woman trope. Harry attending created less materials for the tabloids.
Wow, this is the very definition of “Whatever.” But what are the alternatives?
Kate won’t leave the house.
Camilla doesn’t want to leave the house.
Charles can just barely leave the house.
Where’s William?
😂😂😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Good one!!!
I think Camilla is much sicker than the Firm is disclosing. Tom Bower has alluded to that a few times, and vile as he is, he has good C&C sources. She aint much longer for this world than her husband.
Um, Pippa’s rear end pulled focus from another famous couple’s wedding. Remember that?
This is old, old news. However, clearly the Middleton’s had a close connection to the tabloids back then…what happened? We hear very little from them (unless the publishbooks about their dogs or pop up on reality series) nowadays. And nothing directly from K anymore, often to her own detriment. What is the point of rehashing the S/IL’s wedding guest list from 2017 now?
Yeah, it’s a real reminder of those tabloid connections. From this story to the fake crying story. Never forget Camilla Tominey was invited to Pippa’s wedding. It’s unclear if she was invited as a friend or as a select journalist given access. But the fact that later she is hand-gifted a fake story about Megan making Kate cry is not a coincidence. The Midds really did Meghan dirty.
You mean the butt pads under her maid of honor dress?
Pippa in a bathing suit is a shock, where did her butt go.
Real talk: Who thinks that this makes the Middletons look good? It was very weird seven years ago that the Middletons were so worried about Meghan “overshadowing” Pippa’s wedding, and it’s even weirder to still be talking about it so many years later!
The whole “couples shouldn’t be seated together” thing is weird as well, but whatever – it’s not my wedding. What’s funny is the open astonishment in this article that Harry would rather spend time with his future wife than “closing out” the dance floor with (I’m assuming) former schoolmates. It tells us a lot that the expectation seems to be that Harry would somehow abandon his then-girlfriend and take any opportunity to relive his twenties, partying with the lads. Given that the Middletons’ only other example of how aristocratic men should behave is William, I can understand their shock! I’m just picturing Kate and her mother huddled in a corner in disbelief – “You mean to say that he wants to sit next to HER? And… talk with her? Why?”
It doesn’t make them look good. At all. In fact, this rehash just makes them look trashy, insecure and jealous. It did then and it still does now. To be that concerned about being overshadowed….lordy. To an extent, I can see a bride not wanting to be overshadowed but it’s not like Meghan would have shown up in sequins. And the whole talk about pippa and the midds being worried about being overshadowed became a bigger story than the wedding. So kind of a backfire. The whole thing made them seem insecure and petty. Which I mean that’s apparently what they are. As this story shows.
It really doesn’t make them look good which is why this rehash is so weird at this particular moment. I know this is when H&M got engaged (or when it was announced) but Pippa’s wedding was in May. If this story had come out then (in May even of this year) it would feel less weird to me because it could have been presented as kind of a “ah lets remember a happy time for the Middletons.”
As it is….it just serves to remind everyone of how petty and insecure ALL the Middletons were about Meghan right from the start.
For something nice – I did think Pippa looked very pretty on her wedding day and both she and James looked very happy.
Carole inviting Harry to the wedding was for clout. William was the son in law and the only one who needed the invite. I think Eugenie and Beatrice were also invited. And of course kate was going to be the children wrangler and the paps were focused on her as much as Pippa. So if they were really concerned about giving Pippa all the attention they wouldn’t have don’t that. They just were jealous of how much interest Meghan would have garnered. Even if she came in the back door.
It’s just funny. Bc I’d like to think the wedding guests would all be focused on Pippa and not Meghan had she attended. The interest would be more from the press. Which just tells you how much the midds crave that press attention for themselves. So yeah, why this story now? Why remind us how much the Kate and the midds love the press, to the point that they’re jealously hoarding it? Bc it’s clearly just reminding us that it’s out of nature for Kate to avoid a tiara event.
Just what I thought, it’s wonderful how many stories from the tabs designed to criticise Meghan end up criticising those people around her instead. Like one where Kate was supposed to have snubbed Meghan. As the event was open to the public it just made Kate look unprofessional as a future Queen.
Exactly – why recycle this particular grievance? It’s not even tied to the anniversary of the wedding, and barely mentions Pippa and her husband at all except for detailing the expensive details of the day. It also suggests that someone (Kate and/or Carole) was paying wayyyyyy more attention to Meghan and Harry than the nuptials at hand. Someone was definitely clocking how much time Harry was spending with his future bride and I very much doubt it was Pips!
Why this story, why now? Why not have yet another story about how close the Middletons are and how normal their family is, and link it to Kate’s upcoming christmas concert? It suggests to me that even the rota is tired of writing these Middleton christmas pieces and, more importantly, that there is no longer an appetite for them. The DM is many things, but they are not stupid about what their readers will or will not click on. The Sussexes are what sells – even a seven-year-old grievance is more interesting than anything else the leftbehinds have to offer.
The Middletons are awful bit I’d just like to add that not seating couples together at social events is normal in Europe. I am Danish and that was the norm when I grew up. In fact, couples insisting on sitting together at a formal dinner is understood as them not wanting to mingle with the other guests. It is a social faux pas here, it is understood as kinda rude and it does not give a good first impression. I understand that it is not a social custom in the US so the complaints that Harry and Meghan would insist on sitting together at dinner parties is an issue of cultural differences.
I can understand why Harry and Meghan would prefer sitting together at dinner parties because of how it appears that there was a lot of open and not so open resistance to their relationship but sometimes something as simple as cultural differences can unknowingly cause offense. If I give a dinner party and a couple make it clear that they only want to sit next to each other, then I’d side eye them because in my country it signals that these people are not really interested in conversing with the other guests, that they are not interesting in being social. The mark of a good host/ess is being able to match dinner partners in a way that they will be able to have interesting conversations.
I think Meghan would have been fine speaking with others, but the hostility in even inviting her to the reception was an issue and I suspect Harry was the one who picked up on it and pushed to sit near her since he didn’t trust that the Middletons would treat her well. Meghan has social skills and I’m sure did well as it is.
From what I can tell though, Harry and Meghan did follow the protocol. They did not sit next to each other during the dinner so they were being respectful of the cultural difference. It sounds like the issue was when it came time to after-dinner socializing they stuck by each other’s sides. I’m assuming they still spoke to people but were together as they did. And considering how terrible some of these people have ended up being, it’s probably a good thing he did stick by her. And I assume she was still working so they weren’t seeing each other much at that time.
That’s helpful context, @Arthistorian – I’ve only ever heard of this custom as an aristo thing from, like, Dorothy Sayers novels!
Ultimately, Meghan is warm, she’s educated, and she comes from Hollywood, where you have to network. I doubt she would have had difficulty making conversation with anyone, even strangers who might have been skeptical or dismissive. I also note that even this article notes that it was Harry who constantly sought her out and not the other way around. She’s not described as some limpet clinging to her man; instead, it sounds like Harry just only had eyes for his future wife. The man was smitten! And I can imagine how much that burned some of the people in attendance.
I wonder how much of this treatment of Meghan was actually directed by Pippa. Not that I think she’s innocent, but Carole and Kate continued to be difficult with Meghan over time and this was the wedding where Kate was “minding the kids” and there are a ton of photos showing her mad at George or making stern faces at the other kids in the wedding party.
Yes Meghan attending the ceremony would have stolen their thunder, but why invite Harry in the first place? He is the in law to the in law and if he wasn’t a royal he would never gotten an invite. The Middletons, in particular Carole , wanted it both ways. They wanted some of the attention with royals, but not the most interesting one.
Yes, I think Harry was the dilemma, not Meghan. Carole wanted another royal, but any “plus one” would have stolen the thunder – the BM would have been all about Harry’s girlfriend.
Megan was permitted to attend the reception after the wedding which I’m sure she was a stunner. I remember the photos of Harry driving Megan himself to the reception. There were photos of Megan in London the day of the wedding described as her getting ready for the reception. Camp Middleton said no to the wedding ceremony but yes for the reception which looks even worse in my opinion. Lol. The Middleton clan needs to grow up. It was not a good look.
No to the ceremony but yes to the reception is really weird and very insulting. I have been to weddings where I was at the ceremony in the church but not at the following reception/party because I was not close enough to the couple when there was a limit to how many guests they could have at the reception venue. Excluding someone from attending the ceremony in the church is really unusual and super rude.
I agree. Normally the restrictions for the reception is because of the cost of the reception. But saying she couldn’t go to the ceremony was only because they knew she was going to get media attention far more than anyone else. And why invite Harry in the first place? The Middletons are William’s in-laws not his.
I’m guessing that photographers were able to get pictures of guests entering the ceremony. But the reception was private. So it was proabkybabout limiting photos of Meghan. I don’t think Meghan would have overshadowed pippa bc she was the bride and she looked lovely and her guests would have given her all the attention that she should get in her day. The issue was about being overshadowed within the press and the tabloids. Bc the next day, the midds wanted to make sure that Pippa got the cover, and if she had to share the cover, it would have been with Kate and maybe the kids. But they would have had to share the covers with Meghan if she had attended as a guest. Bc the press would have loved to get photos of Harry and Meghan entering the church together. And the Midds didn’t want to share press coverage. They wanted it to be solely on Pippa and Kate.
Technically you can’t exclude someone from a church service, the church is open to all.
I think Harry just wanted Meg to be accepted and pulled into the family — even the extended Middletons. He probably thought if they get to know Meghan they would see how wonderful she was (because that’s the theme with Meghan – everyone who meets her loves her) and would treat her like the family she was going to become.
But alas for these people hate & pride is stronger than love and respect.
Daily Fail continue to scrap the bottom of the barrel with all these recycled stories from 7 years ago.They continue to use Meg and Harry as deflection whilst hinting at disquiet over W and K. Why if Kate had secured her place as FQ would she feel at risk of being overshadowed by anyone else? RF and tabs worked in tandem to drive out hardworking and charismatic couple to secure the arena instead for a dull and lazy duo. Too late for buyer’s remorse, you are stuck with a FK and FQ who are only going to do select events that they enjoy.
This exactly. If Kate felt secure in her place, why would she worry about being overshadowed or even care if she was overshadowed? Meghan was the new thing and was naturally going to get attention. So? Like you say, if Kate was secure in her place, it wouldn’t have mattered.
‘Sitting together in the custom glass marquee that had been erected on the 18-acre property should have been a fun night for the couple, but, per Pippa’s request, no couples sat together,’ they wrote –
was this in Pippa’s tips? I don’t recall. I can’t believe I missed this at the time, in all my parties since 2017 people have been permitted to sit wherever they wanted and will no doubt have had a miserable time. Bring back Pippa’s Tips immediately.
Since they want to go back in time, what still amazes me is, ALL of Williams aristo friends could see the Midds coming from a mile away and turned in the opposite direction. Seems like I remember some aristo she was dating and his Mom basically said, “he!! to the no.” Even if all the aristo ladies turned him down, seems he could have found an aristo adjacent one to pass on his genes. But, alas, he got snuckered in and he and Katie are the essence of what you see today. And…. they always claim Harry was the not bright one.
Carole playing pseudo mother was part of the package deal. Without that the Middletons wouldn’t have had a chance. But they catered to his whims in a way his own family did not. Diana said no to him whereas Carole never would.
recycled story of course is meant to reiterate that it was the Middletons who were behind the initial isolation of Meghan. lest we forget. the palace think they are being sneaky by getting their mouthpiece to repeat this. after refusing to help the Middletons through the shame of bankruptcy they are well and truly done with this family and will forever take little jabs to remind them of their station in life.
Yes I agree. There are many things you can directly link to Kate or the Middletons in terms of attacking Meghan. For instance, how did the media know that Meghan would be walking to the nearby stores? The paps knew where to look because Kate tipped them off. And excluding Meghan from Pippa’s wedding when they were months away from announcing the engagement was just rude. Harry was not quiet about how serious he was with her and by pippa’s wedding Meghan had already started plans to leave Suits. Of course with Kate planting false stories for crygate and then Carole doing her first interview and making sure to insert snarky comments about Meghan, we know where a lot of the initial issues were sourced.
Not to forget leaking Archie’s name with some bizarre story about George walking with Carole and telling a stranger his name is Archie.
Meghan posed the biggest threat to Kate so it makes sense that Kate and her mother came out swinging the way they did – well it makes sense when you consider Kate and Carole’s personalities and perspective on popularity and the spotlight etc. Someone more secure and confident in their position would not have reacted the way they did, but Carole’s gonna Carole.
Meghan was prettier, more stylish, more glamorous, better educated* and a hard worker who had significant philanthropic experience. She made Kate look bad just by being herself and Carole and Kate knew it from the start and reacted accordingly.
*That’s not a knock on St Andrews, thats more a knock on the fact that I think Kate barely cracked a textbook while at St. Andrews.
@Becks1, it is sooo stupid how these people think. Kate has always been the next Queen whether Meghan was more popular than her or not. It wasn’t like they would elect Harry to be the next King if he and his wife were more popular in UK than W&K. The threat they always talk about was created by their dumb actions and the tabloids. Sophie is working more than Kate, no one is saying she should be the next Queen. Meghan would be the same. The more popular she would be, the better PR the BRF would get from the global press. They are so short-sighted.
Good points. Kate was always going to be the next queen. But it’s like they couldn’t stand the thought of Kate not being the most popular ever. The way her pr rolled out and made her into the perfect princess in comparison to Meghan was telling. But it’s just weird. Bc yeah, Meghan was never going to be queen. There was no threat except in a juvenile popularity contest created in their minds.
This rehash just confirms that the DM has nothing to write about and that they’re desperate to talk about Harry and Meghan.
When H said in Spare:
“…..to my incredible wife, for too many millions of gifts and sacrifices, great and small, to ever enumerate,” this middleton wedding slight is very likely one of the “many millions of …..sacrifices” that he was talking about.
We already know that he regrets remaining in and subjecting himself and his wife to the control of the Institution for the length of time they did instead of leaving “four years ago” as he said in 2021.
Not being allowed to sit with your partner at a wedding reception is weird. Sorry, Euros.
Weddings are supposed to be about romance, but this custom just makes wedding receptions seem like business mixers, where people are supposed to make new contacts.
And I didn’t pay much attention to Pippa’s wedding at the time, but I’m LOL’ing at the way her tiny attendants are dressed — she seems to have copied the look from countless royal weddings. The Middleton striving is so transparent.
Years and years ago (early-90s) my boyfriend at the time (we had been going out about 2 1/2 years at this point) had a roommate who had a whirlwind romance with an Heiress (yes, with a capital H. He was not the smartest, but smart enough to know who to woo, lol.) Anyhow, his sister, also gold-digging convinced her future sister-in-law to only allow married, single or engaged couples to the wedding, which left me and my boyfriend’s best friend’s girlfriend (who had been dating him for about 4 years) uninvited. We weren’t thrilled but both boyfriends had to go. (While we went out on a very very very expensive night on them, lol.) Basically, it was the roommate’s sister trying to husband hunt — she had already tried with our boyfriends, and wanted to try again, but keep her options open. (It didn’t work, with anyone there or our boyfriends — though we all married other people eventually!)