Catherine, Princess of Wales Said the Windsor Castle Walkabout Alongside the Sussexes Was “One of the Hardest Things She’d Ever Had to Do,” New Book Claims

Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle

(Image credit: Getty)

published 8 April 2023

Another day, another bombshell book about the royals—and this one, Our King, written by veteran royal correspondent Robert Jobson, has some juice to it. If there is anyone who best represents the royal family’s standard “Never complain, never explain” mantra, it’s the Princess of Wales. But, according to Jobson’s book, Kate said of the Windsor Castle walkabout two days after Her late Majesty’s death—the unforgettable one where Kate and Prince William were joined, unexpectedly, by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle—that it was “one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do” because of the “ill feeling” between the two couples.

Our King was serialized in The Daily Mail, where we learned that “Catherine later admitted to a senior royal that, such was the ill feeling between the two couples, the joint walkabout was one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do,” Jobson writes.

When it happened on Saturday, September 10, the two couples’ joint walkabout—which The Daily Mail reports is “said to have been William’s idea to put on a show of unity”—seemed like a potential reconciliation. But, say Jobson’s sources close to the royal family, that was an “illusion.”

At least as of this writing, no reconciliation seems to be in the cards—after September 10 came, of course, Harry and Meghan’s eponymous Netflix docuseries in December and, perhaps more damaging, Harry’s memoir, Spare, in January. Though the RSVP deadline for King Charles’ Coronation was this past Monday, April 3, there is still no word from the Sussexes on whether they will attend the May 6 ceremony at Westminster Abbey in London.

Our King doesn’t stop there with the juicy revelations, by the way. As The Daily Mail delineates, the book also reveals that Charles was frustrated at Harry’s “bad manners” in 2016 for releasing a statement confirming his relationship with Meghan but demanding they be left alone—and overshadowing Charles’ Gulf tour in the process; that Her late Majesty was mystified by Harry and Meghan’s public criticisms of the monarchy and members of the royal family and described their behavior as “quite mad”; and that Charles and William mutually decided they couldn’t risk being alone with Harry again after Harry and Meghan’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021 and would no longer treat him as a trusted member of the family.

Our King is out April 13.

Our King by Robert Jobson

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.