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.
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- (170118) — DAVOS, Jan. 18, 2017 () — U.S. Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the 47th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 18, 2017.(/Xu Jinquan)(gl)
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- HRH Prince Harry, Meghan Markle leaving Westminster Abbey following the Service of Commemoration and Thanksgiving on Anzac day.,Image: 369657160, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no
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- Meghan Markle waves to the crowd as she after a visit to youth-orientated radio station, Reprezent FM, in Brixton, south London to learn about its work supporting young people. The Reprezent training programme was established 10 years ago in response to the rise in knife crime, to help young people develop and socialise through radio.,Image: 508107662, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon
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- 167256, Carole Middleton, the mother of the Duchess of Cambridge and Pippa Middleton, spectates from the Royal box on day four of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. London, United Kingdom – Thursday July 6, 2017. UK, FRANCE, AUS, NZ, CHINA, HONG KONG, TAIWAN, SPAIN & ITALY OUT Photograph: Ã?© Stephen Lock/i-Images, PacificCoastNews. Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Avalon): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com FEE MUST BE AGREED PRIOR TO USAGE,Image: 533038972, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS, DIRECT SALES ONLY UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE IN CAPTION – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: i-Images, PacificCoastNews / Avalon
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- 173196, Prince Harry and fiancee Meghan Markle during a visit to Cardiff Castle as part of their royal duties. Cardiff, Wales – Thursday January 18, 2018. NO UK USE FOR 7 DAYS Photograph: Ã?© Avalon.red, PacificCoastNews. Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Avalon): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com FEE MUST BE AGREED PRIOR TO USAGE,Image: 534295957, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS, DIRECT SALES ONLY UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE IN CAPTION – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red, PacificCoastNews / Avalon
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- 173196, Prince Harry and fiancee Meghan Markle during a visit to Cardiff Castle as part of their royal duties. Cardiff, Wales – Thursday January 18, 2018. NO UK USE FOR 7 DAYS Photograph: Ã?© Avalon.red, PacificCoastNews. Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Avalon): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com FEE MUST BE AGREED PRIOR TO USAGE,Image: 534296014, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS, DIRECT SALES ONLY UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE IN CAPTION – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red, PacificCoastNews / Avalon
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- The wedding of Pippa Middleton and James Matthews at St. Mark’s Church, Englefield. Attended by Catherine Middleton, Prince William, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. Featuring: Pippa Middleton, James Matthews, Prince George Where: Englefield, United Kingdom When: 20 May 2017 Credit: WENN.com
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- The wedding of Pippa Middleton and James Matthews at St Mark’s Church, Englefield. Attended by Catherine Middleton, Prince William and Princess Charlotte and Prince George. Featuring: Pippa Middleton, James Matthews Where: Englefield, United Kingdom When: 20 May 2017 Credit: WENN.com
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- The wedding of Pippa Middleton and James Matthews at St. Mark’s Church, Englefield. Attended by Catherine Middleton, Prince William, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. Featuring: Pippa Middleton, James Matthews Where: Englefield, United Kingdom When: 20 May 2017 Credit: WENN.com
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!!! 😆😆😆
“Her sister struggles. I don’t like the sister’s face. She should only show her back.”
Lagerfield said that about Pippa.
😂😂😂
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.
Joanne, don’t forget hair!!!!!
Saucy & Sassy, you’e correct, I forgot they both have hair, 2 arms and 2 legs. My apologies.
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.
Yeah, @sevenblue, but I think Harry should have not attended not because of the press but the message that this would have sent the Middletons, the grey men and his family. I.e., I will not tolerate your treating my girlfriend like trash and dissing her in the tabloids. It would have made it very clear the importance to Harry of Meghan.
Remember, it was not long after this at the Diana memorial event that Meghan was disinvited, after she flew over for it, because they (Spencer and William, Kate?) decided that it would just be “family.”.
They also weren’t just dissing Meghan they were testing the waters, I think, to see how far they could go to “other” Meghan without Harry putting his foot down. As far as I’m concerned, Harry just should have just said FU and not attended either event.
@bisynaptic In those early days, I think H&M were really expecting things to get better. That if they played by certain (silly) rules while still getting set-up as a couple, then when they were married these same people would have their backs etc.
Also, 2017 Harry still believed in his family and friends to an extent. Yes, he knew how childish and petty they were but I genuinely believe that he was taken by suprise by how they acted towards Meghan. And 2017 Meghan is relying on Harry as a guide into his world. So, she may have exepected to take some small hits as the girlfriend but be securely ensconced as the wife.
Of course we know that wasn’t the case and I can’t imagine that 2020+ Harry would play ball.
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.
Eurydice, William won’t go into the house.
Awesome!
After the tabloids were fascinated with the chief bridesmaids rear at another wedding there were a flurry of stories in the press for a while trying to suggest Pippa & Harry might be a thing – as chief Bridesmaid and Best man they’d had to hang out together. Supposedly he’d found her refreshing… in gossip terms probably lasted about a week or so before it got dropped. The stories were being fed to the press from somewhere…..
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.
Jay,
Even my working class grandparents followed this custom when they entertained, so not an aristocratic custom.
Meghan has social skills galore so I just think that these people were assholes and Harry was protective.
I just took issue with people on this site acting like seating couples apart is weird and unusual. It may be in other cultures/countries but is completely normal in Europe. Not every commenter on this site is from the US but I think a lot of people forget that.
Yes, it’s the same in Greece. It’s bad form for couples to be glued together, as if there is some kind of infidelity if married people socialize with anyone but their spouses.
@ArtHistorian – In Britain it is the upper classes and the wannabe upper classes who insist on separating couples at dinner parties, for the reasons you state. This would have been par for course for the arriviste Ma Middleton at Pippa’s wedding reception. Ordinary people in Britain, and in the Netherlands where I live, don’t insist on this sort of thing at dinner parties.
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.
Yes this makes the Middleton’s look bad…. to anyone paying attention. Unfortunately, history is being rewritten by the palaces and the Press as we speak. I remember this as it was happening, and was very disappointed that Harry decided to attend the wedding. What is not mentioned in the article is that Meghan was initially invited, as a plus one, to the wedding and when they realize she actually was going to attend they started barraging, through the Press, Meghan with stories about how inappropriate it would have been for her to overshadow the bride on her day. They also made Meghan sneak in for the reception so that she was not photographed by the press, so as to not overshadow Pippa during her reception.
“I still believe that this was the start of the Middletons doing way too much around Harry’s relationship with Meghan”.
Yes, and it should have been a red flag to Harry that Meghan was going to be fodder for bad stories in the Press leaked by the Middletons and the palaces. My attitude then and I still believe it is that Harry and Meghan should have avoided interactions with the Royal family and the Middletons as much as possible before the wedding (and after).
Sometimes when someone doesn’t like you, they are going to find any and all reason to bash you. With people like this, there is nothing you can do to change their opinion of you. Interactions just provide fodder for negative gossip. The same goes for Meghan spending time with the then Cambridges that Christmas. This was before the wedding but after it happened all we heard about was Meghan ….blah blah blah blah blah ….dissed the Nanny and or Charlotte.
This is also a reminder to anyone who believes that Meghan was welcomed into the Royal family by the family, the palaces, the Press, and Royal hangers-on, from the get-go. She was not. She was always and will always be treated like an outsider.
What this shows to me is that again it’s one rule for aristos and another for H&M unless anyone can point me in the direction as to when the Federers and ITV journalists became close enough associates of the Middletons to be invited to their daughters wedding, it seems that the majority of the guest list was for clout and not friendships? I remember Meghan getting pelters for having guests at her own wedding as if she just invited random celebrities and not ones affiliated with the causes close to her and Harry’s hearts 🤦♀️
@Jay – It’s commonplace at “upper class” dinner parties that couples don’t sit together. This is so that they don’t spend the whole evening talking to each other and ignoring the other guests. The place settings at the table will have name plates showing where each person must sit. This will have been arranged in advance by the hostess (in this case Ma Middleton). It just goes to show that arriviste Middletons were trying to ape the aristocracy at Pippa’s wedding reception.
@Jay, wondering if it’s tied to the paperback release of SPARE. As others noted, in comments below, Harry discussed this in SPARE. The chapter when Harry & Meghan met with the WanK’s in June 2018. Also, when, the lack of EASTER presents was mentioned by the WanK’s. That still makes me laugh.
Harry said, at Pippa’s reception, he and Meghan were seated across from each other with a huge flower arrangement between them. At H&M’s reception, the WanK’s table was the only one where couples weren’t seated next to each other. W&K claimed “someone else” changed the place cards. lol “Someone else” changed the place cards of the table that, at the time, the FFK & FFQC were seated. Very bold of “someone else”.
Nutso story. What’s Sykes playing at? He references FF, not SPARE. We already know Omid was given false info from JK & courtiers.
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.
Churches do exclude the public when there are services for VIPs, especially funerals. This happens regularly in Sydney, Australia at St Andrew’s and St Mary’s Cathedrals. I’m sure that William, Harry, George and Charlotte’s attendance was enough to get the general public excluded.
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.
Sorry I didn’t see your post, @thatgirl, before I commented above. You are right, Harry probably, naively, thought that if people got to meet and know Meghan they would love her as he does. But as I pointed out above, I am convinced that they were all very prepared to dislike her, and find reasons for it. It took a long time, way too long, for Harry to figure this out.
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.
And this I truly do not understand. Why on earth re-hash old stupid stories from five, six, seven, eight years ago? Are their readers really OK with this crap? Isn’t a newspaper supposed to be about the news of today?
‘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.
The Middletons were reported to be “competitive” recently, can’t recall the source. But the kids always had the best tennis gear, that kind of thing.
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.
He wrote about it in spare. Kate and William accused them of having swapped the seating arrangements to sit next to each other when Harry and Meghan asked them why Kate and William swapped the American way for the European way at Meghan and Harry’s.
And in Spare, Harry said that they didn’t swap seats even though they wanted to. So they did not sit next to each other at the dinner as was the custom for this wedding, which is a normal thing as others have posted above. Some weddings separate while others don’t. To me that’s not a big deal either way. The issue seems to be they spent too much time together after the dinner. People wanted Harry to dance and drink but he was spending time with Meghan. Since she’d probably flown in for the wedding.
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.
@QuiteContrary – It’s not just at wedding receptions, it’s also at private dinner parties attended by the upper classes in Britain. Ordinary people don’t bother about traditions like these. We certainly don’t in the Netherlands where I live. The Middletons are just pretentious wannabe aristos.
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!)
Overshadow her big event?😂.. I don’t remember ever seeing anything about it here. Maybe if they hadn’t been so racist and invited the Sussex’s I would have heard about over here.
I missed all the Pippa hype the first time around, and every time it’s revisited I can’t believe such a mid, frumpy, personality-free person made such a global media splash. There’s literally nothing remarkable about her besides the fact that her sister married the future king. This was really what the world was going bonkers over in 2011?
No f’ing wonder Meghan’s beauty, intelligence, education, talent, work ethic, accomplishments and charisma hit all of them all like a heat-seeking missile.
Oh and: Pippa and Meghan look NOTHING alike, that’s just a bonkers comparison. Meghan is a timeless and iconic beauty.
Plain Pippa is how I refer to her.
I don’t know how racist the “no ring, no bring” selective policy was, but I’m glad they changed the name of the policy from the original “Half white, off-site” and “Half black, get back.”
Eugenie and Jack were there and not engaged yet. So it was a Meghan only policy.
That was going to be my question. I couldn’t remember if the York girls were allowed to bring their boyfriends. Man. The Middletons are so petty.
Ohh. I didn’t recall that. Lordy. So I’m guessing a new rule would be created about for how long a couple had dated? Basically whatever rule they needed to snub Meghan. They were so obvious in their rudeness, jeez.
I recall because many tried to make excuses for this difference at the time. It was targeted to Meghan because Carole and Kate knew that Meghan was going to be more popular than Kate and this was a power play.
Well, to me this story makes Harry and Meghan look like two very considerate people willing to accommodate their hosts. Harry wouldn’t decline to go because it would make him look petulant. It’s some one else’s big day, after all. I seems to be that he was trying to integrate Meghan into his extended family and friends crowd. It shows more clearly now the winds against Meghan. I saw brief video of kate the kid wrangler and I wouldn’t trust my child with her. She barely paid attention to anyone except her own two children. Luckily, Nanny Maria was there I think.
Remember this was also shortly after Spencer started dating Vogue, and I remember there being stories in the press (likely from Carole) that Vogue was only dating Spencer to get an invite to Pippa’s wedding. The press was such that Vogue came out and said she had other plans that weekend so couldnt make it anyway.
Carole and Pippa were hugely insecure about both Spencer’s and Harry’s dates. Can you imagine not being able to have a date to your own brother’s wedding because your sister in law and her mother are so psycho about all the attention being on them that day?
Pippa’s wedding really showcased his grand the Middletons had become. Uncle Gary wasn’t invited to the evening reception and took his young daughter to Chiltern Firehouse to be photographed instead. Mike Middleton’s two siblings were also spotted eating at the time of the reception. Paparazzi at the ceremony site. Releasing a statement for a “private citizen” with details of the wedding through KP (with spelling errors.) Camilla Tominey being an invited guest to it all. A flight over past. Fireworks. Trees brought into the imported glass House. Having it at bucklebury Manor. Holding the post church tea/breakfast at a venue owned by a man Party Pieces later stiffed on rent.
Woah, I knew Gary didn’t make the cut, but Mike’s siblings also didn’t make the cut? That is crazy – so Pippa wanted her fancy contacts there but not her actual family? Eeeesh
He has 3 brothers. One is unmarried, I’m not sure about the other, and one, Richard, produced the two children that Kate finds most acceptable, who went to Bedales and became a lawyer and a financier and are Charlotte and Louis’s god parents. I’m sure Finance guy (Adam Middleton) and Free Legal Advice (Lucy Middleton – who is a libel specialist) made it to the evening ceremony but the other two brothers didn’t. Kate broke a boycott of a hotel to attend Adam’s wedding… and his wedding photographer was none other than the paparazzi William forced Kate to sue, Niraj Tanna.
Woah woah woah Blujfly, Tanna photographed Kate’s wedding?
Any time I mention his special relationship with Kate and how Will made her sue him, I get reamed online by trolls – but you also remember him being her go to and how she invited him to photo her Christmas where she thought William was going to invite her to sandringham, but then he didn’t, and that’s why Tanna got those shots of her playing tennis?
Pls tell us more about this wedding photographer issue!
Don’t forget Roger Federer playing table tennis with Wills and Co! Mirka Federer did not look pleased en route to the wedding …
I’ll bet the Midds, other than Kate, have barely uttered a word to Roger since that wedding.
They will never forgive The Duchess for marrying a Prince w/o wasting her life waiting for him, not working, not exploring the world, not being the butt of the aristocracy gold digging jokes and putting up with infidelities. Meghan had a life well lived before Harry and they actually fell in love.
It’s ironic how they were so afraid Meghan would pull focus from the Pippa wedding and, here they are, using using their fear of Meghan pulling focus from the Pippa wedding to pull focus from Kate and Will’s divorce!
Come on guys, that is a divorce beard.
For those asking, this Middleton being rude to Meghan story matches with Kate being excluded from the upcoming state banquet. The worm has turned and the DM is bringing up an old story to show how things can change.
Yes, curious. Kate will miss another tiara event, although she is being roped in to welcome the Emir of Qatar and his wife at Kensington Palace and will then accompany them to meet the King and Queen. I wonder if it’s because they don’t want her making small talk with dinner guests when she might let something slip about her current situation? If she’s being held on a tight leash by William, she can’t say anything out of turn.
Concerning the Middletons and Prince Harry, I read an intriguing article in the Times (London) from 2019 recently in which it was stated that Harry and William fell out before William’s wedding to Kate because Harry did not approve of the Middletons. Hmmm.
All this makes me think how much Ma Middleton resembles Hyacinth Bucket (sorry, Bouquet) in the opening scenes of the British TV comedy “Keeping Up Appearances” when she is shown setting the table for a dinner party and measuring out the place settings with a ruler. I can picture Ma Midds doing that for Pippa’s wedding reception. 😁
Oh, you know she did! 😆
Edit: this is a reply to @Deborah1 above.
Miss Scarlett, Tanna was the photographer for Kate’s cousin Adam Middleton. That wedding was after the 2009 lawsuit and tennis photos and Kate’s marriage. Rather bizarre for your cousin to have the man that allegedly harassed you be his wedding photographer right? You can google Hello magazine Adam Middleton wedding Dorcester boycott. And If you can find it, there’s a lengthy piece from 2010 by Tina Brown in the Daily Beast about Kate’s refusal and reluctance to sue Tanna delaying the engagement due to William’s suspicions she cooperated with him, and because William saw it as the perfect text case to use the same law that the Princess of Monaco used.
Yes sorry typo in the other post – I meant that I can’t believe Tanna was the photog for Kate’s cousin!!
There was a lot of swirl back in the mid-2000s about how Carole had hired him to take flattering pictures of Kate for the press. I also remember after Kate finally sued him and settled for such a small amount that he was MAD and threatened to expose the whole family. I didn’t realize the debacle delayed the engagement though, wow! William was right to be suspicious, I wonder what brought him back on side.
Also, do you remember the news from maybe 2009 that reporters had Kate’s personal cell phone, and she answered when she and William were off somewhere together and he hit the roof? She had to act like she didn’t know how they got it because they were calling for tips (it seems as per usual), and William didn’t know that she had talked to the press before.
Ugh I just typed out a whole reply and it disappeared 😬
Anyway, sorry it was a typo in the last post – I meant Kate’s cousin’s wedding. I also didn’t realize the debacle with Tanna delayed the engagement!!
I do remember she didn’t want to sue him, and there was a lot of swirl that Carole hired him to take flattering pictures of Kate that they got to vet before being sold to the papers. When William finally made Kate sue him (and then quickly settled for like 5k), Tanna was MAD and threatened to out the whole Middleton family!
I’ll have to look up the articles you mention, I missed those somewhere along the way.
They are obsessed and the constant Meg stories must bring them lots of clicks. It’s like a compulsion! If they actually didn’t care, they’d simply never report on what she’s up to. Delusional.