On Jan. 9, 2022, Kate Middleton celebrated her 40th birthday. That would be a big deal for anyone, and it was an especially important milestone for the future Queen Consort of England. Unsurprisingly, Kate received birthday greetings from fans all around the world.
But it didn’t take long for Kate’s fans to notice that there were no social media posts or other public messages from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wishing Kate a happy birthday.
There is already plenty of long-running drama between Kate and William and Meghan and Harry. Now, people can’t help but wonder if Meghan and Harry sunk so low as to snub Kate on her special day.
What really happened, though? Keep reading as we get to the bottom of this!
Initial drama
Harry and Meghan have been real drama magnets for the past year or so. But the drama between them and Kate and William actually started before Harry and Meghan even tied the knot.
For example, William reportedly warned Harry about moving too fast with Meghan. This was probably meant as gentle advice from a big brother, but Harry got a bit heated with William over the matter.
Later, the Royal Family allegedly got heated with Harry. As Page Six reported, leaked texts from Meghan Markle revealed that she reached out to her father in a letter to smooth things over only because she wanted to take some of the family heat off Harry regarding the upcoming wedding.
Leading up to the wedding, a story about Meghan making Kate cry while they were trying on wedding dresses went viral. Later, Meghan claimed that the reverse was true and that it was actually Kate that made Meghan cry!
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Harry and Meghan declare war on the Royal Family
For all of that initial drama, things seemed smooth between the two couples after the wedding. But Meghan eventually became nearly suicidal after how she was treated by the British tabloids, and Harry grew resentful that the Royal Family wasn’t doing enough about these tabloid tales.
This culminated in Meghan and Harry stepping down from Royal responsibilities and eventually leaving England. Later, they gave a bombshell interview to Oprah Winfrey that made the royals look bad, especially when Meghan claimed that a senior royal expressed concern over her the color of her unborn child’s skin.
This made the rift between William and Harry worse than ever. And it looks like Kate and Meghan may have gotten caught in the middle.
Lingering resentment between brothers
After the interview with Oprah, William was seemingly the most offended of the Royal Family. He went so far as to go on television himself to publicly deny some of the claims that Harry and Meghan had made.
For the most part, William’s anger seemed to be focused on Harry. But Kate eventually got involved, and it seems to have soured her relationship with Meghan.
According to The Telegraph, Kate initially wanted to play peacekeeper between William and Harry. She was unsuccessful, though, and William continued to bear a serious grudge towards Harry. And Kate’s desire to support her husband seemingly got Kate embroiled in the grudge as well.
As Us Weekly reports, William’s rage towards Harry made an already chilly relationship between Kate and Meghan downright frosty. One source told the publication that “Kate and Meghan] were never that close, but the reason they’re not speaking is because of the rift between Prince Harry and Prince William.”
Continuing, the source claimed, “Harry and William have communicated sparingly over the last year, but none of their communications have been friendly in quite some time. There is real animosity that the brothers have toward one another, and that has spilled over to Meghan and Kate’s relationship, making it very hard for them to be friends or even friendly.”
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How the birthday snub rumors got started
That brings us to the present day and Kate’s 40th birthday celebration. Many of Kate’s biggest fans are convinced that Harry and Meghan snubbed Kate, but how did those rumors get started in the first place?
It wasn’t anything Harry and Meghan said so much as what they didn’t say. It’s customary for the royals to wish each other happy birthday and congratulations on other milestones on Twitter. As the Daily Mail reported, back in 2020, Harry and Meghan used their @sussexroyal Twitter account (which is now defunct) to publicly wish Kate a happy birthday. “Wishing a very happy birthday to The Duchess of Cambridge today!” they wrote, complete with a cake and heart emoji.
But this year, there were no public birthday greetings for Kate from Harry and Meghan. This is despite the fact that Kate and William sent a special message out on their Instagram Stories for Meghan’s own 40th birthday back on Aug. 4, 2021 (via Us Weekly).
So, does that mean that Harry and Meghan actually snubbed Kate or is there more to the story?
Low-key birthday greetings
According to Us Weekly, Harry and Meghan didn’t snub Kate. Instead, they simply opted for a more low-key way of communicating.
Royal expert Christopher Andersen told the publication that Harry and Meghan “did a video call. They wished her a happy birthday. [It was] very private.”
There is a chance that the couple went with a private video call to avoid accidentally causing drama for Kate if the tabloids were to twist their words. With all the drama surrounding Harry and Meghan in the press, it’s no surprise that they chose a video call to tell Kate “happy birthday” in a more intimate way than a public tweet.