The Truth Behind Meghan's Fight With Princess Catherine | Inside Royals | Full Documentary

She looks more regal, more royal than she ever has done. Her and William are the future of the royal family. Those disagreements were clearly far more ferocious behind the scenes. Everyone just went a little bit crazy. It just became out of control. And it seemed to just turn really dark really fast. Everything changed. She was asking, almost begging for time and for people to understand everything that she's gone through. That moment she was no longer Kate Middleton, it was Princess of Wales. I've covered William and Kate's relationship since they met at St Andrews nearly 20 years ago. And I think when you look back on Kate and how she conducted herself then, it is almost as if she was born to do this role. She's somebody I think comes from a pretty normal background, middle class background. So really her story with William is a bit of a fairy tale. It wouldn't have happened years ago. I think the incredible thing about their early days together was that it was William that went chasing after Katherine. She was called Vic-Kate. All the boys at the University of St Andrews, they all fancied Kate. And William was prince. He was going to be king one day, but he had to go chasing her. And I think that was a really good foundation for their relationship. She wasn't the usual, typical royal wife. She wasn't selected for the future king from an aristocratic family. It happened organically. When she first started dating William, of course none of us knew that they were dating because they managed to keep it a secret at St Andrews. They were very well protected with this sort of bubble of university life. It started off very slowly. It built. They were allowed time to really get to know each other outside the media glare. When they were photographed kissing in Switzerland on the Slopes of Clusters, of course, you know, the secret was out. And she became famous overnight. And she had to deal with that fame and that huge interest. Not so much at St Andrews University because there was a protection plan in place to protect William and by default Kate. But certainly when she graduated and was sort of out in the big wide world, it was really challenging for her. She really had to fend for herself. She didn't have the backup of a security detail or the protection of the palace press officer until they were engaged. And she was sort of brought into the protection of the palace. There are photographs of Catherine just getting on the bus in the King's Road. There are pictures of her looking out the window, you know. This is a lady that's going to be the future queen. There are no pictures like that of Diana or of late Queen Elizabeth or anybody else. And I think that that does set her aside. And I think that makes her the glue, actually, for a modern monarchy. She does understand how the way other people live. And I think that's so important. When I first observed Catherine at a public engagement at Prince William's Passing Out Parade from Sandhurst, that was a big moment for her as his girlfriend. His grandmother, the queen, was inspecting the parade. She was there as his girlfriend with her parents there on this very, very public stage for the first time. The first day I actually spoke to her was on the day their engagement was announced. Clarence House had been very careful to protect her. They had always said that she was a private citizen. She had no public role and therefore no duty to speak to the media. On the day of their engagement, that was her first time being faced with the press. We were invited to a tea party in St James's Palace where she would be introduced to the royal rota, the group of journalists that were following the royal family at that time. And we would get to know a little bit about her. She described herself as being like a swan, looking calm and serene on the surface, but furiously paddling beneath. She was so conscious she didn't want to get it wrong. No, he's very, very supportive of me in good times and also through the bad times. And that's very special for me. You could hear her nerves as she spoke, you could hear her nerves in the interview, as well as the excitement. This was their big moment. But wow, what a change it was for her, from Catherine Middleton to the soon-to-be Duchess of Cambridge. So William and Kate had an unusually long courtship for a royal couple. They were together for eight, nearly nine years before he proposed. That long courtship actually stood her in really good stead because that near decade of being William's girlfriend enabled her to see what life was going to be like in that goldfish bowl of royalty and gave her the tools so that she could adjust. And she did. Treasure this incredible moment they're going to have together. I think they knew from that moment on that life would never be the same. You know, this was going to be a huge event, the wedding it was. There was massive interest in them and huge amounts of public goodwill towards them. It's a pretty steep learning curve, I think, to join the royal family, from the protocol, the curtsying, who sits when, who picks up their knife and fork when, to the public role and the expectations that there are of you in public, to standing up on stage and giving a speech in front of a large audience and a global television audience. I remember being on those early engagements with her and certainly she was nervous. Absolutely took her time over choosing her patronages, was almost debilitated with nerves on her first public speaking engagement. You have all made me feel so welcome and I feel hugely honoured to be here, to see this wonderful centre. I think William was very conscious of the lessons that needed to be learned from his mother's own experience as someone so young and so naive, thrust into the spotlight and left isolated within this very bizarre family. And I think William was very conscious that Catherine needed to know what she was taking on, that she could have a chance to back out if she wanted to, but also to quietly and gradually learn the ropes by watching others, in particular the Queen. Marriage in the Royal Family is not just a love affair, it's a job. You know, you are marrying into an institution. All eyes are on her, the expectations are huge. You know, you are the most photographed person in almost a forensic way. It's a very difficult balancing act, trying to be the best and not letting anyone down. There's no formal role for a spouse in the Royal Family. They have to try and find their own way and carve out their own path and their own interests. And over the years we've seen Catherine start to hone those interests. She was also someone who brought the two brothers together, Harry describing her as the sister that he'd never had. You could see the three of them had fun together. As the three, William, Harry and Catherine, that all seemed to work. They were quite a team. They looked like they got on. They definitely did get on. I mean, Harry's a fun, he's a jester. Catherine has a very wicked sense of humour and they definitely bonded. It was a happy, harmonious relationship. So for a while the three of them were, you know, rubbing along extremely well. And then Meghan arrives. Harry and Meghan have managed to keep the relationship secret from the public and the press, but also from their family for a little while. Until Harry turns up at apartment 1A at Kensington Palace and spills the beans to William and Kate about who his new girlfriend is. And he describes the moment their jaws hit the floor. They were massive fans of Suits. And here was Harry dating Rachel Zane from Suits. When Meghan first started joining Harry with William and Kate on these royal engagements, you could tell there was just such a buzz around them. They were such a glamorous new set of royals. We were really seeing this amazing new team getting out there. They were re-energised and it seemed like they were all going to be really close and this was going to be the royals of the new era. Every time they stepped out together, it was a front page and they were quickly dubbed in the media the Fab Four. And they were fab. Catherine didn't always want to hang out with William and Harry. She wanted Harry to have an interesting woman that she can make friends with. They were absolutely delighted. There would have been a hope that the two of them, who were both marrying into this strange family, could have bonded. But they are such different personalities. There was just very little in common between these two women. No matter what they, no matter what Harry and William might have hoped, these were two very, very, very different people who were never set to be the best of friends. I think that to suggest that it was all going to be hunky-dory was just a bit naive, I think, from everybody concerned. Meghan Clinton has a very strong personality and has her own ideas of what she wants to achieve. She's been around the block in terms of understanding how the media works. She had a degree of success as an actress. She was probably a better performer in terms of public speaking and presenting herself than either Catherine, William or Harry. Now, that would have put a few noses out of joint. I remember watching the four of them on stage at the Royal Foundation Forum and Catherine was then pregnant with Louis. Meghan was the exciting newcomer on the scene. And Meghan had such ease and such presence on the stage. And when she was asked questions, she didn't have to stop and think about what was the right thing to say. She just spoke. And I remember thinking at the time that this would be quite difficult for Catherine because she is far more guarded in her approach. And unfortunately, the media portrayal was always pitting these two women against each other. Even if they had had more in common, they were always being put up as rivals in some ways. There were many efforts, but unfortunately, their personalities just didn't work. And it wasn't just their personalities didn't work. It was more than that. It was how stressful this time was. Catherine was pregnant and she has had issues with morning sickness and there was a lot of stress on her at the time. Meghan had just come into this family. There was a lot of stress on her. And piled on top of that was the fact that the two women just were different people. Kate is quintessentially a middle class girl that is an English rose, if you like, and is very bright, went to university. But it's very family orientated. She fell in love very young with a guy that she clearly loves and still does. Meghan has set out to be someone. She said, I want to be famous. And that was very clear from the outset. She had experienced media. She had courted media. She'd been on chat shows. She'd done all these things to get known. Meghan, that's what she set out to be. Catherine never set out to be anything. But the fact is, she fell in love with a guy and this comes with it all. What you can tell from Meghan and Kate is these are two extremely different women. And that is fine in itself, but it seemed to lead to some awkward public moments, especially right at the start. There was that story that Harry later told about their Royal Foundation forum where backstage Meghan had offhand mentioned that she'd forgotten her lip gloss and she asked Kate if she could borrow some of hers. And Harry used the term grimaced, as in Kate grimaced in response and handed it over. It was just a very awkward moment before they then went out on stage. Those disagreements were clearly far more ferocious behind the scenes than we could ever have imagined. As they sat there, welcoming Meghan into the foundation for the first time. To tennis together, it was all pushed to show that they were getting on. They clearly weren't. You only have to look at the body language. It was all a little fake. Meghan also apparently at some point made an offhand remark about Kate having baby brains. She was pregnant with Prince Louis at the time in the lead up to the wedding. And that did not sit well with William and Kate and the four of them ended up sitting down and having a really heated conversation. And this was all written about in spare. And it seems like one of those flashpoints in the relationship between the four of them where things were just getting worse and worse. But where this all took a very dramatic turn is what we later learned was the bridesmaid dress incident. The first real major hint of a problem was when we got the story about the bridesmaid dress. The infamous bridesmaid dress. And this story was that Meghan had made Catherine cry when she'd suggested that Princess Charlotte's bridesmaid dress needed to be remade. Harry painted a picture later in his book that Kate had been quite unwilling to compromise. Again, this is only Harry's side. But the way that he portrayed it is that she came in and said that they needed to be completely remade. Meghan was obviously dealing with the stress of planning a wedding and also joining the royal family at the time. And also there was the drama with her father playing out. And so this was all happening then. And it seemed to be a really dramatic point in the women's relationship. Although it was later revealed by Meghan that Kate had turned up with flowers and had apologised. And it seemed that maybe they could recover from it. During those really tense few months when all of the reports about this feud between Harry, Meghan, William, Kate, they were all surfacing and no one was really able to explain or clarify their side because they were all working within the royal family. And then we get an alternative version of events. This time coming from Meghan talking to Oprah Winfrey. But actually, no, you're all wrong. Did you make Kate cry? No. The reverse happened. Meghan said a lot of things on Oprah Winfrey. But one of the things that stands out is when she starts talking about Catherine. And I thought this was a little bit harsh, OK? Catherine wasn't the person who told the world or put out a statement saying that Meghan made her cry. No, that was other people. Other people have put that story out. There was no need for Meghan to do that. And I think that would have upset Catherine. Now, once Harry and Meghan left, of course, they were very quick to want to get their side of the story out there. And in detail, as we now know, William and Kate had to go down the never complain, never explain route. And then we've got Harry and Meghan who have given multiple interviews explaining their side of the story. Five years on, William and Kate's popularity is soaring and Harry and Meghan have become quite divisive. So on the one hand, we have the now prince and princess of Wales who live by the never complain, never explain mantra and have said nothing about this. On the other hand, and on the other side of the Atlantic, we have Harry and Meghan who have said an awful lot. Does that work in their favour? I don't think it has. Because Catherine and William are right up there among the most popular royals. And Harry and Meghan's ratings, whenever they speak, really, dip further. They are only just above Prince Andrew in the popularity states. Her late majesty pledged herself to serve her country and her people and to maintain the precious principles of constitutional government which lie at the heart of our nation. She set an example of selfless duty, which, with God's help and your counsel, I am resolved faithfully. I think the Queen admired Catherine's quiet dedication, the fact that she was such a support to William, the fact that she wanted to listen, she wanted to learn, she wanted to be a part of this family and she wanted to get things right. I think the Queen liked her solid family upbringing, that that would be a stabilising force as well. And she admired her down-to-earth nature. Catherine talked about her first Christmas and what on earth do you buy for the Queen? And she decided she would make a jar of her grandmother's recipe, chutney. And a gesture like that goes a very long way. And they had a really strong bond, one of mutual admiration and respect. The most obvious change when Queen Elizabeth died was for Catherine's title and her position within the royal family. She became the Princess of Wales. That title has huge connotations and associations. She was stepping into some pretty big shoes and she knew it, but was determined that she would be her own Princess of Wales, that she would make this role her own and she would do things her way, that she wouldn't be weighed down by the burden of responsibility that she was carrying. She and William are next in line. They are the most senior royals after the King. And that has made a huge difference to them. It meant a much bigger profile. It meant changes for their children as well, as they step up the pecking order. And yet they've tried very, very, very hard to maintain stability and normality for the children. Still going out on the school run, still giving them as normal a life as they possibly can, while they can. And then everything changed. So I was at Sandringham on Christmas Day, 2023, and I saw the Princess of Wales looking, as she always does, absolutely spectacular, smiling with her children. I had no idea that she was ill. And even then, I think maybe she was more ill, potentially, than we gave her credit for, because just within a few short weeks, we learned that she was in hospital. She needed surgery and she was in there for around two weeks. And we were told that she would need to take a bit of time and would return in April. We gave her that time. But unfortunately, the public weren't so forgiving. What came to pass in the months that followed was drama on a scale we've never seen surrounding William and Kate. Something happened then. This story hit the zeitgeist in a way that had never happened with them before. And it seemed to just turn really dark really fast. Everyone just went a little bit crazy. They just lost their minds. They thought there was some kind of conspiracy. People were reveling in this idea. And it became cruel. It became bullying. I was receiving endless messages from people who would never normally weigh in on royal stories, asking me if rumours about her being in a coma were true. There were horrible, horrible reports online about as dark as saying that she'd passed away. The conspiracy theorists that exist online, that always is the case with high-profile figures, but the way that it hit the mainstream was unprecedented and very dark. In this vacuum where we didn't see the Princess of Wales, the world went mad. The online conspiracy theories reached levels I don't think anyone could possibly have anticipated. US talk shows were focusing on where is Kate. Celebrities were getting in on the act. It was absolutely crazy. Kim Kardashian put a social media message on, probably to get, you know, some extra traction. She realised that the hashtag was doing well. So she joked that she was out trying to find Kate. Everyone was laughing at Katherine. Everyone was sending rude memes. Everyone was joking about it. I think it's one of the most shameful episodes that I've seen in many, many years. The Palace did not want to be drawn into a running commentary about her health, but they did release a photograph on Mother's Day. And there was a lot of speculation about this photograph, that it had been photoshopped, that Kate still hadn't been seen in public. And I think the photoshopping of the picture, for which Kate then apologised for, further fuelled what were growing conspiracy theories online. It just became out of control. As we now know, the Palace was protecting her because she was waiting to reveal what was really going on, until her children could be on break from school, so that they wouldn't have to face the public scrutiny of it as well, and so that her and William could explain the situation properly. At the height of the abuse that Katherine was getting online, I was told she'd been to a local farm shop with William and had gone shopping. And this was the first sighting that we had of the Princess of Wales for quite some time. I thought that was worthy of report. So we splashed on the front page of The Sun that the Princess of Wales had been well enough to go shopping. I got an enormous amount of abuse. People were saying it was a lie, that it could never have happened. People were doubting that she was either well enough to go for a walk, or just doubting that this story was true. But fortunately for everybody, the truth did come out, because someone was in the car park and they filmed Katherine walking with William. We hoped that might be the end of it, that people might lay off Katherine just for a little bit of time, but no, it just sparked more wild conspiracy theories. X, Instagram, TikTok, wherever you look, just became a sewer. People should be ashamed of that period of time, because we later learned that while people were sending memes to each other on WhatsApp, while we were joking behind Katherine's back, she'd been diagnosed with cancer. In January, I underwent major abdominal surgery in London. And at the time, it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous. The surgery was successful. However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present. We'd never seen anything like that. I was close to tears. You know, it was quite emotional. I saw a woman who was scared. I saw a woman that had been through a huge amount of trauma, clearly aware of what the public, the trolls, the people online, the cruel insults that have been doing around. She was aware of that. And she was asking, almost begging for time and for people to understand everything that she's gone through. This, of course, came as a huge shock. And William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family. It was powerful. This was a woman sitting on her own, talking about her cancer diagnosis, but also making it about others and her positivity and her optimism. It was a really moving moment for me to hear Kate come out and announce that she had cancer, because only the year before I'd been through my own cancer diagnosis and on a course of preventative chemotherapy. So I was really, you know, devastated for her because I knew and understood what she'd gone through, not as a royal, not as the Princess of Wales, but as a mother, as a mother to little children. I thought she was incredibly regal and classy, the way she delivered that and the way that she explained it. And she looked like she was going to break down at times when she referred to her children. Incredibly courageous stuff. And I thought that she really did go up in many, many people's estimation. In that moment, I think that she became more royal than she'd ever been. The title, The Princess of Wales, seemed to be owned by the late Diana. It now is owned by Catherine. It was no longer Kate Middleton. It was Catherine, the Princess of Wales. Within hours of that video being published, public perception quickly changed and sanity prevailed. There were public apologies from anonymous Twitters, but also celebrities. I think there was a lot of soul-searching, and rightly so. If you think back to the days of Princess Diana, she was chased by photographers. After she died, the press changed. The way the photographers worked changed. The way that newspapers buy photographs is now different after what happened with Princess Diana. And I think this is now a watershed moment for people who think it's funny to post insults on social media about celebrities and people in the public eye, that they should look deep into their soul and question why on earth they went down to such a disgraceful level against the Princess of Wales. It really was a turning point where, of course, everyone immediately stepped back and they gave her that space. And she was really surrounded by that support from all over the world when just days earlier, everyone had been speculating about what was going on. And it really humanised her. And also, there was a lot of support for her courage in being able to reveal this publicly and to explain what had been going on. She didn't have to do that. But the fact that she did and was so open about it, I think, was well respected. In early 2025, Kate announced that she was in remission, which was obviously very welcome news from everyone. She's had so much support over this period. But also, I think we've seen a real reset for the Princess of Wales. She's come back to work. There's been a real emphasis on a gradual return to duties. But we're seeing her step into her role, I think, with a newfound confidence. And also, she's approaching life with the balance of family and royal duties in a different way. She's really throwing her enthusiasm and putting her energy into those issues she really cares about, like the early years work. And I think we're going to see a little bit more of that over time, where she's learnt to reset that sense of duty. And also, because she's had that period of time where she's been able to take stock of what's important in life. She had huge shoes to fill in Princess Diana. But what Catherine has done is quietly made it her own. If you think of the videos that she's produced, first of all saying that she has cancer and then saying that she's cancer-free, these are groundbreaking. No other royal has ever done anything like this before. Even when she revealed that her cancer was in remission, it was a comment that she posted online when she was talking about supporting other cancer patients. She revealed it quietly to the world. She hasn't rewritten the rulebook, but what she has done is quietly moulded her role to her own personality. And that's what we have seen in the last couple of years. Well, I'm thrilled that she's in remission. I'm thrilled that she's getting well. I hope that she's given the time and space to be able to deal with this in the way that she should be allowed to deal with it, in the same way that anybody else in remission should be allowed to deal with it. If she pulls out of an engagement, that should be totally accepted, because, you know, some days you feel good, some days you don't. And I think that it's right that at this moment in time she can spend as much time being a mum as she feels fit. And also, you know, let William do the heavy lifting, doing what he's going to do. He's the heir to the throne after all. And I think that people should allow her as much time and space as she wants. I think the Princess of Wales, I think Catherine, is now very clear about who she is, who she wants to be, the kind of queen that she wants to be, the role that she wants to play, and the balance that she wants to strike between the public role, the public duty, and the private role that she plays as a mother as well, which has very public connotations because she is the mother of our future king. And she puts just as much emphasis on that, of making sure that she raises a happy, well-adjusted, stable family, supporting her husband, supporting her children, as she does showing up to public events. I just think people are warm to her as a mum. They're warm to her as somebody who's come from a pretty humble roots. If you think, you know, the future King George, his great-granddad used to be up a ladder painting houses, you know, so in a way that gives them a link to the country in a way they've never had before. It's a remarkable story. I think she acts with remarkable grace and poise. And with Catherine, you get someone that is steely as well as beautiful, courageous as well as tenacious. And I think someone who really is supporting and supportive of William in a way that's going to make his role as the future king far easier to do. She looks more regal, more royal than she ever has done. She's more than capable of being a future queen. She's going to be a brilliant future queen. Her and William are the future of the royal family.