To think Kate and William saw Harry and Meghan as a real threat to their image?

[BluntPinkNewt]

From the moment Harry and Meghan got together, the media attention was huge. Meghan was glamorous, charismatic, and had a strong public presence - something the royal family hadn’t seen before from an outsider. For a while, it felt like they were the most exciting and modern part of the monarchy.

Kate and William have always been the “stable” and “traditional” royals but suddenly, Harry and Meghan were drawing attention in a way that might have made them seem more relatable and interesting in comparison. The shift in public perception (and maybe even palace dynamics) must have been unsettling.

Obviously things have played out the way they have but AIBU to think that, at least at the time, William and Kate felt genuinely threatened by how much attention and influence Harry and Meghan were gaining?

W &c wouldn’t see them as a threat. I think Meghan and Harry have worked hard to promulgate the MYTH that they saw them as a threat. In their dreams.

The RF is not a meritocracy, it’s a hierarchy and they were always going to be walking behind W&C and boy, did that sting. They tried all kinds of tricks to subvert the status quo and when that didn’t work, they flounced.

Honestly, they were never any kind of threat.

I agree wholeheartedly, OP. The Form have never taken kindly to women with celebrity appeal and a desire to promote unorthodox charities, eg Diana and HIV / land mines. The Firm hated her glamour and ability to draw media attention, particularly Charles, who wanted to be the centre of attention.

The thing is it's not a job it's a position.

Until they become King and Queen the only official requirements are to produce the next heir, to support the current monarch as he sees fit, and for William to learn as much as he can about how to do the official duties of monarch before he has to do it himself.

It's that second requirement that is the important one. William is required to do as much or as little as Charles requires of him. And as much publicly or behind the scenes as Charles requires of him.

Charles had a long time to prepare and had many years to fill with other activities alongside the requirements from his mother.

I see it that incomers are always meant to play second fiddle and not upstage their other (royal) half. Charles didn't object to Diana's charities but he certainly didn't like the attention she got when they were out together. Meghan severely misjudged it when she walked in front of the late Queen (and collected flowers meant for her) - she just didn't do 2 paces behind anybody! Catherine has perfected the art of knowing her place.

Harry didn’t become popular overnight when he met Meghan. He and William were consistently the most popular members of the Royal Family, along with QEII. They far eclipsed Charles as Prince of Wales (and William and Kate still do even now Charles is King). Their Ipsos Mori poll results from 2018 onwards show this (and for those who dismiss polls, they are backed by statistical science and the various companies who run them find consistently similar results).

So Harry being very popular was not a new thing. Are posters suggesting William and Kate were always jealous of Harry? That seems unlikely - in Harry’s own words in Spare from 2011 onwards they were very focused on building a home and their family.

Harry finding a Hollywood actress girlfriend and swiftly proceeding to engagement and marriage would be presumably expected to result in a big bump in attention and popularity for them both. As a PP has sensibly said, we can only speculate about William and Kate’s personal feelings on this. However we also know there were tensions behind the scenes for some time - so public popularity may not have been top of their list of concerns?

I think it's more that H&M thought that W&C should be jealous of them, would begging them to stay with them so that they could just get a little of their popularity, and were put out to find out that they weren't.

As far as I can see W&C are happy in their own skins with their little family and don't need to keep looking over their shoulder.
That is far more galling to H&M than if they were trying to compete.

Totally subjective and therefore worthless judgement.

‘Who’s the prettiest?’ Are we, on MN, really that pathetically immature in 2025?

It's a myth that the Royals live in a fishbowl. They're only photographed when on royal duties. I'm quite sure they have a great social life including trips abroad that is never reported on.

William and Kate are about as boring and uninspiring as it's possible for a couple to get. It's beyond embarrassing that they are the future of the monarchy. So H&M probably were viewed as a threat.

Chalk and Cheese.

Why on earth are you bothering your head with this?

It's beyond embarrassing that they are the future of the monarchy.

Why? They are popular internally and internationally and seem unlikely to screw things up (having recently been deployed by the Foreign Office to make nice to Trump, attend international funerals and assist in hosting state visits etc). That’s pretty much demonstrating competence for the role. It’s not The X Factor.

This. Who knew until recently that Charles has a favourite holiday home on Romania that he goes to loads. That's never reported on.

We like our monarchs to be dull. Surely you’ve noticed?

I would rather have Meghan's figure any day than stick thin Kate's. I also prefer Meghan's dress sense. Kate is just boring

Just because you haven’t read or remembered the story doesn’t mean it hasn’t been reported on. The Press have been mentioning Charles’ house in Romania since he bought it in 2006. Here's an article from 2009 for example.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/property/article-1213395/How-Prince-pap-ended-neighbours--Transylvania.html

@BluntPinkNewt I think different factions of the Royal Family have always behaved terribly towards each other.

Think of what happened just before WW1. As far as I can remember, practically all the members of the Royal families of Europe were quite closely related to both Queen Victoria and each other.

Kaiser Wilhelm and his cousin George V were out horseriding together in 1913, everybody was sending Christmas cards to each other, even the Russian lot were included.

One year later they were all fighting each other.

Imagine if Mumsnet had existed during those times.

AlexandraUnderHouseArrest

Name change for this as could be outing: My DH has run into considerable difficulties at work and is very unpopular. We live overseas. I can't say where but think, "Caviar."

I admit I am somewhat to blame for this trouble because I have been trying alternative healthcare remedies for youngest DS who has haemophilia which DH and practically everyone else around me thinks is harmful nonsense.

I don't want to dripfeed so I might as well say now that I have developed a deep spiritual connection to my son's healer, let's call him, "Grigori"

We are living very rurally at the moment which is a big change for both me and DH although my four older DDs don't seem to mind it as much. I miss Gregori but my main focus must be to keep my marriage together and wrangle safe passage for us all to the Americas from either Cousin W in Germany or Cousin G in England.

DH and I write constantly to our family in Germany and the UK to help us but they are keeping us at warship's length.

Several very confused posts later: OP replies:

@ Lucy Honeychurch My cousin is also his cousin. My uncle is also his cousin. His aunt is also my uncle's sister's cousin. My mother was also his father's aunt. It's not difficult.

@ Charlotte Bartlett Thanks for replying and it's a romantic suggestion but it's too late now. He's got an ice pick in his head.

@ ChristobelPankhurstsPurpleSash You think you're so funny, don't you? No this is not a troll post. MY GRANDMOTHER ACTUALLY WAS QUEEN VICTORIA.

Harry and Meghan are narcissists, they might have had public opinion for 15 minutes, however as he moans about were always the spare...

I don't read the Mail. It wasn't widely reported on.

They are also a family and they have done each other great harm over the past century.

Yes! I think this too. It was so clear, one minute all the articles were about how Kate should be more modern, dress more like Megan, how educated and glamourous Megan was. Then all of a sudden it turned and the stories became about Megan’s extravagance, flying to America on her friend’s private jet, wearing expensive clothes, eating avocados ffs - all things Kate was doing too (I mean when have the royals ever not been extravagant lol!).

Definitely made sense that Kate and William’s PR machines was working against Harry and Megan. I think Harry has confirmed that stories against them were fed to the press by the palace to sacrifice Megan and protect Kate. The future King and Queen couldn’t risk being considered second best by the public, they are supposed to be the saviours of the monarchy. If the public start thinking they’re not so special after all, then what?

Yes, and Camilla and her India retreat where she regularly goes

It’s also mentioned in articles in the Guardian and the Independent in the same time frame…

Thats an unexpected post at this point in time! I think William and Kate are it for the long game - they're not really in the same league. They probably don't put the same amount of importance on the tabloids that Megan does and probably didn't have much change in the amount of love and fandom they received during that time.

Again - this is how the British tabloids work for royals and most celebrities too - it’s how a story cycle gets the most sales/hits.

Build them up, knock them down, build them up, knock them down on repeat.

So yes Meghan’s wave of positive stories was always going to be followed by a wave of negative ones - and Kate vice versa.

The tabs are a bit stuck at the moment with Kate because they were burned by the ‘where’s Kate’ narrative turning into brave Mum of three has cancer.

So she’s quite bullet proof right now. Give it a few years though.

If Meghan had stayed in the role she’d have had waves of popularity again across the years followed by dips. Not some Royal PR conspiracy just the business of news papers making their money with drama and gossip.

They're 'boring' in the same way the Queen was 'boring', presenting a carefully maintained front of dignified duty with enough warmth that people will feel affection for them - not at all easy to carry off.

As to the OP question I'd be surprised if there wasn't a twinge of jealousy early on but that would quickly have evaporated when they realised what a pita Meghan was going to be.