Princess Kate and Meghan Markle’s relationship in photos

Since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle began dating in 2016, speculation about the relationship between the duchess and her sister-in-law, Princess Kate, has become a near constant subject of public fascination.

In the months after Meghan and Harry’s engagement, the public were given the opportunity to see both women interacting at royal events, where smiles and conversations were exchanged with such apparent warmth that Prince William, Kate, Harry and Meghan were dubbed the “Fab Four” by the media.

This narrative appeared to switch in late 2018, when reports surfaced alleging that Meghan had made Kate cry at the time of the royal wedding months earlier (an allegation Meghan has since denied).

From that point, the public gaze turned from identifying that the pair’s friendlier moments to searching for evidence that they weren’t getting along.

Speculation about the sisters-in-law took on new weight when in 2019, Meghan and Harry formed their own office at Buckingham Palace after having previously run operations jointly with William and Kate at Kensington Palace. This was followed by the shock announcement that the Sussexes would step back entirely from their working roles within the monarchy in January 2020.

Meghan finally addressed the long-running press and social media commentary about her relationship with Kate in her 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey. She pointed out that it had been Kate who made her cry at the time of her wedding, but she still believed that Kate was a “good person.”

Harry detailed some of the behind-palace-walls tensions between his wife and sister-in-law in his 2023 memoir, Spare, which Kate and Kensington Palace did not officially acknowledge or rebut.

Since 2021, Meghan and Kate have been photographed alongside one another only once, for the events marking Queen Elizabeth II’s death in 2022.

Meghan did not attend King Charles III’s coronation alongside her husband in 2023, which would have been the biggest royal family reunion since the late queen’s funeral.

Here, Newsweek looks at Kate and Meghan’s relationship in photos from their first joint engagement to their last, to date.

First Joint Appearance

Meghan and Kate made their first joint appearance together on Christmas Day in 2017. At the time, Meghan and Harry had announced their engagement two months earlier, with mounting anticipation among the public to see the royal fiancée and her future sister-in-law together for the first time.

Meghan and Kate were photographed side-by-side with William and Harry walking to church on the Sandringham Estate.

Royal Foundation Forum

In February 2018, three months before Meghan’s royal wedding, she attended the Royal Foundation Forum in London which took the form of a group discussion between William, Harry, Kate and Meghan about their shared philanthropic goals.

The two couples were photographed joking together and appeared easy in each others’ company, so much so that the press dubbed them the “Fab Four” after the event.

In 2023, Harry revealed that before the couples took to the stage, a moment of tension had broken out between his future wife and Kate. Meghan had asked to borrow Kate’s lip gloss, which Harry said made his sister-in-law grimace.

The Fab Four

Appearing under their new “Fab Four” label, Kate and Meghan were once again reunited before the royal wedding to attend the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey. Held in March 2018, Kate was heavily pregnant with her third child, Prince Louis, at the time.

Solo Sisters-in-Law

In July 2018, Meghan and Kate made their first solo joint appearance together, to attend a match of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London.

Both Kate and Meghan are tennis fans, with both women attending Wimbledon matches in a private capacity before joining the royal family.

The sisters-in-law went to Wimbledon together in both 2018 and 2019. Photos of the pair engaging in friendly conversation during these events were widely circulated, however, when asked about them in 2021, Meghan admitted to Winfrey that “nothing” during her time as a royal was “what it looks like.”

Tensions

After reports in late 2018 began to suggest that tensions had developed between Meghan and Kate, they had grown and spiked when it was announced in January 2020 that Harry and Meghan would split from the monarchy and move to the U.S.

The duke and duchess’ last public engagement as working royals was to attend the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey at which William and Kate were also present.

Cameras and eyes were on the two couples and some questioned whether they would interact. When William and Kate arrived, Harry and Meghan were already seated, with no exchange captured between them.

Reunited

After Harry and Meghan’s split from the monarchy, once again speculation about tensions with William and Kate circulated. This was heightened after the Sussexes’ interview with Winfrey which was critical of the royal family.

The two couples were finally reunited for the first time in over two years for a sad occasion. Queen Elizabeth II died in September 2022 while Harry and Meghan happened to be in the U.K.

The couples put on a united front in grief as they were photographed together meeting members of the public who had gathered at Windsor Castle to pay their respects to the late queen.

Family Farewell

The last time Meghan and Kate attended a public event together (as of April 2024) was for the funeral service and committal of Queen Elizabeth II. The sisters-in-law made striking appearances in black mourning dresses alongside Queen Camilla and other members of the royal family for the services.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek‘s royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.

Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We’d love to hear from you.