Meghan Markle's lip gloss request left Kate Middleton 'grimacing,' Harry claims

Prince Harry in his book detailed flashpoints between Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton

By TCP News Desk May 01, 2025

Prince Harry isn’t holding back when it comes to the royal tensions that simmered behind the scenes, including one painfully awkward moment between Meghan Markle and Princess Kate that may have left a lasting mark.

In his 2023 memoir Spare, the Duke of Sussex detailed the lead-up to the now-infamous 2018 Royal Foundation Forum, the first joint public appearance of the “Fab Four”: Harry, Meghan, Kate, and William.

It was there, Harry says, that an everyday beauty request sparked a subtle but telling reaction.

“Meg asked to borrow Kate’s lip gloss,” he wrote. “An American thing.”

“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.”

While Harry believed the moment should’ve been something to laugh off, he admitted the tension was palpable and may have lingered.

“The press sensed it was something bigger. It left a mark,” he wrote.

The moment, he said, foreshadowed the scrutiny that would follow Meghan, especially as media coverage of the event focused more on Meghan’s presence, and politics, than the charitable work being highlighted.

Harry speculated that it “had Kate on edge” and made it clear to the family and the world that comparisons between the two women were inevitable.

Tensions between Meghan and Kate at the Sussex royal wedding

Spare also detailed other flashpoints between the royal wives, including a disagreement about a bridesmaid dress ahead of Harry and Meghan’s 2018 wedding.

According to Harry, Meghan had suggested Kate was experiencing “baby-brain” after recently giving birth to Prince Louis, a comment Kate reportedly didn’t appreciate.

Another issue arose when Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress didn’t fit properly. Meghan wanted it tailored. Kate wanted a new one made.

The disagreement reportedly ended with Kate saying they weren’t “close enough” for such personal remarks, and William allegedly backing her up by telling Meghan she was being “rude”, adding: “That’s not how we do things in this country.”

Harry revealed he once dreamed of the four becoming a united front. “I looked forward to the four of us spending lots of time together... that this had long been my dream,” he wrote.