Why Prince William Reportedly Had Concerns About Meghan Markle
It's no secret that Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, didn't exactly feel the most welcome as a senior member of the royal family after she married Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex — and he's not exactly hidden the fact that he didn't feel his brother, William, Prince of Wales, was all that sympathetic towards his wife when she made it clear she was struggling with her role. "As far as my family was concerned — everything that she was being put through — they'd been put through as well," Harry claimed during the second episode of the couple's bombshell Netflix series, "Harry & Meghan." "Some of the members of the family were like, 'My wife had to go through that, so why should your girlfriend be treated any differently?'" he then added, as a photo of Kate Middleton popped up.
There have also been multiple other allegations about the way the royals and their team supposedly treated Meghan after she married Harry, including both claiming during their notorious 2021 sit down with Oprah Winfrey that those who work with the royal family (who Meghan referred to as "The Firm") purportedly refused to help Meghan help with her mental health after she shared her struggles.
But while we know things turned pretty sour between William and Meghan after the wedding, what did he really think of his brother's new girlfriend in the early days of their romance?
Prince William thought Prince Harry was moving too quickly with Meghan Markle
William, Prince of Wales, reportedly thought his brother, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, was moving far too quickly when he fell in love with Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex. That's according to the book "Battle of Brothers: The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult," in which Historian Robert Lacey claimed (via People), "William worried that his brother was moving too fast in his courtship — and he did not shrink from saying as much when Harry started talking about getting hitched to Meghan quite soon." As royal watchers will remember, the two got engaged in November 2017 after they began dating in the middle of 2016, while William is thought to have started dating Catherine, Princess of Wales, around 2003 but they didn't propose until 2010. "For William it was the future state of his monarchy — his sacred trust; while for Harry it was the love of the complex and captivating woman who had finally made sense of his life," they added.
Meghan herself has even admitted she maybe didn't make the best impression when it came to William and Kate Middleton, due to her casual nature. "I was meeting [Kate] for the first time I remember I was in ripped jeans, I was bare foot, like, I was a hugger, I have always been a hugger I didn't realise that is really jarring for a lot of Brits," Meghan explained in "Harry & Meghan."
Prince Harry reportedly thought Prince William wasn't overly welcoming to Meghan Markle
It sounds like things didn't really improve too much when it came to what William, Prince of Wales, thought of Meghan Markle, even later on in their relationship, as sources have claimed Prince Harry never felt his brother really welcomed the former "Suits" star into the family with open arms. "Harry felt William wasn't rolling out the red carpet for Meghan and told him so," an insider claimed to Vanity Fair back in 2018, purporting it caused some tension between the brothers that was only diffused after King Charles intervened. It was thanks to him getting involved that William and Kate invited Harry and Meghan over for the holidays.
Harry himself has only added fuel to the fire that William was never exactly Meghan's biggest fan. In his shocking 2023 biography, "Spare," Harry recounted an alleged physical altercation he got into with his brother back in 2019, which came about after Harry supposedly accused his brother of copying the press's negative tone when speaking about Meghan. As for the way William purportedly described Meghan to Harry that led to the altercation? "Difficult", "rude" and "abrasive" (via Express). Ouch.