Queen Meghan Markle: Tensions Were 'Brewing' Between Former Actress and Kate Middleton About Who 'Outshined' the Other

There is reportedly no love lost between Kate, Princess of Wales, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. In fact, the future queen could be "glad" the former actress is back in Tinseltown.

"There was a time in 2018 when Meghan and Kate were speaking at a forum together, and Meghan was speaking a lot better than Kate," royal commentator Charlotte Griffiths told an outlet.

"It started to become very apparent that there was a real risk here — that Meghan might outshine Kate in the public speaking arena," she added. "But what Kate’s done, which is what she’s brilliant at, is just stood back, stayed calm, and just waited for Harry and Meghan to thrash it out, tie themselves in knots, [and] throw lurid accusations her way via the royal biographer, apparently via Meghan."

When Meghan Markle married Prince Harry in the spring of 2018, the duo's wedding was a widely-watched event. Both became instantly popular royals and were lauded as a "great addition" to a monarchy that needed "new blood" as the 21st century continued.

All of that quickly soured as press headlines ruthlessly laid into both Harry and Meghan. By early 2020, the royal rebels decided to split from the Crown, whereas both Prince William and Kate have continued their duties in earnest.

The expert explained how the Duchess of Cambridge "stayed calm, stayed quiet, and she’s emerged the victor. Kate can give things time; she has that ability to play the long game, and Meghan wasn’t able to, and she just tied herself in knots and burned out quite quickly."

In his memoir, Spare, Prince Harry described a similar moment of tension between his sister-in-law and fiancé in early 2018. "All this came on the heels of an awkward moment 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," the prince wrote.

Describing the animosity that festered between the Duchess and Duchess-to-be, Harry added, "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."

Such exchanges between the two relayed a bigger point in how both ladies, worldly and equally college-educated, simply did not "click" due to the clashes of their "powerful personalities."

"They were never friends in the first place. I think Kate could probably put on a good show if she had to. A bit like when the Queen died, they had to walk around the crowds together. That wasn't too convincing, but she might be able to do a more convincing double act if it came to it many years down the line, and they ended up doing a royal engagement together again," Griffiths concluded.

Daily Express reported on Griffith's comments.