Meghan Markle’s reaction to Kate Middleton’s public speaking during an event at which they both spoke shows “she knew her speech was much better,” according to a TikTok video that has gone viral.
Prince Harry and Meghan gave a joint-talk with Prince William and Kate during the Royal Foundation Forum in February 2018.
The event proved controversial after its host asked the four royals whether they ever disagreed, and William and Harry acknowledged some differences of opinion.
A clip has gone viral on TikTok five years later after a fan spotted Meghan’s reaction to Kate’s public speaking.
The Duchess of Sussex appears to look away and play with her hair as Kate talks about the different charity projects she, William and Harry have been involved in.
The footage was liked 22.6k times and viewed 330k times, while a follow-up clip showing Meghan’s own speech was viewed 113k times and liked 4,500 times.
In the first post, Kate said: “Harry with knife crime, William with homelessness and for me with sort of addiction and things, I think just sort of coming together to try to find some sort of common ground and to be able to draw ideas together and find a way forward…”
In the second, Meghan said: “What’s interesting is I hear a lot of people saying, when speaking about girls’ empowerment, ‘finding or knowing their worth.’
“Or… women’s empowerment as well, you’ll often hear people say ‘you’re helping women find their voices’ and I fundamentally disagree with that because women don’t need to find a voice.
“They have a voice, they need to be empowered to use it and people need to be encouraged to listen.
“And I think right now in the climate we’re seeing, there’s so many campaigns, with Me Too and Time’s Up, there’s no better time to shine a light on women feeling empowered and people really helping to support them.”
Harry and Meghan left the foundation the following year after relations between the couples broke down and now run the Archewell foundation.
The foundation forum event came before any hint of disagreement became public, though the host did ask the couples whether they ever had disagreements.
Prince William replied: “Oh yes,” before Harry added: “Healthy disagreements.”
Asked what the last dispute was about, Harry said: “I can’t remember—they come so thick and fast,” while William replied: “But is it resolved? We don’t know.”
At the time, there were theories of possible tension between the couples over the fact Kate had recently gone to the BAFTA awards in an olive green dress when guests had been asked to wear black in support of anti-sexual violence campaign Times Up.
Meghan voiced her support for #metoo during the forum event, leading some to speculate that might have been the source of the conflict.
The duchess backing MeToo also had an awkward backdrop at the time because of allegations Prince Andrew had sex with a Jeffrey Epstein trafficking victim, which he denies.
Harry appeared to discount the suggestion this was the point of conflict in his book Spare, though his account that the saga “wasn’t real” did not acknowledge his and William’s own words about disagreements.
“Days later, controversy. Something about Meg showing support for #metoo, and Kate not showing support—via their outfits? I think that was the gist, though who can say?
It wasn’t real. But I think it had Kate on edge, while putting her and everyone else on notice that she was now going to be compared to, and forced to compete with, Meg.”
Instead, he suggested there was an awkward moment between the princesses backstage: “Meg asked to borrow Kate’s lip gloss. An American thing. Meg forgot hers, worried she needed some, and turned to Kate for help.
“Kate, taken aback, went into her handbag and reluctantly pulled out a small tube. Meg squeezed some onto her finger and applied it to her lips. Kate grimaced. Small clash of styles, maybe?
“Something we should’ve been able to laugh about soon after. But it left a little mark. And then the press sensed something was up and tried to turn it into something bigger. Here we go, I thought sorrowfully”
