'Awkward' Fab Four moment that sparked Harry and William split
Once upon a time, the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex appeared to be a dream team, representing a younger, more modern vision of the Royal Family.
Then it all came crashing down, in a now widely forgotten moment that spelt the beginning of the end for the then-affectionately nicknamed The Fab Four. In February 2018, long before Prince Harry and Meghan upped sticks to Montecito, the two royal couples made their first official appearance together at the first Royal Foundation forum summit.
This should have marked the beginning of an exciting journey together. Harry and Meghan were at that point excitedly planning for their May wedding, while William and Kate were expecting their third child, Prince Louis.
Unfortunately, things went so badly that it was then decided that, aside from larger group royal engagements, such as Trooping the Colour, the quartet would never again appear on stage together again. It was a signifier of things to come.
It was undoubtedly a very different time for the House of Windsor. Back then, before the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the subsequent coronation of King Charles, William and Kate were still known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Meanwhile, Meghan, now 43, was still establishing herself as a newly minted member of 'The Firm', with royal watchers dazzled by the Hollywood glamour the former actress brought to palace life. Unfortunately, Meghan's star power appeared to backfire during this fateful summit, in a way that apparently didn't go down well at all with future Queen Kate.
At the central London-based summit, themed around the notion of 'Making a Difference Together', mum-of-two Meghan spoke passionately about movements such as #MeToo and #TimesUp, encouraging women to "use their voices".
She said: "I hear a lot of people speaking about girls' empowerment and women's' empowerment you will hear people saying they are helping women find their voices.
"I fundamentally disagree with that because women don't need to find their voices, they need to be empowered to use it and people need to be urged to listen. Right now with so many campaigns like #MeToo and #TimesUp there's no better time to continue to shine a light on women feeling empowered and people supporting them."
In her 2022 book The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor, the Truth and the Turmoil, writer Tina Brown offered her analysis of the Windsor feud, by then in full swing.
The former Vanity Fair editor, who previously penned the 2007 bestseller The Diana Chronicles, cast her eye over this now-famous summit, which offered a telling glimpse into the dynamics between these four very different individuals.
Ms Brown noted that Kate, 43, appeared "strikingly less articulate" when compared with Suits star Meghan, who was able to speak "fluently" on the then-hot topic of women's empowerment.
The astute author wrote: 'With blithe proprietorship, she deployed an issue that was not even on the foundation's docket - women's empowerment, then at its fervid height with the acceleration of the #MeToo movement.
"'Women don't need to find a voice. They have a voice. They need to feel empowered to use it', Meghan quotably exhorted as Harry looked on with awe and his brother and Kate stood by with expressionless irritation. When it was Kate's moment to speak, she was strikingly less articulate, as well as brief."
Reflecting on the "awkward dynamic", she continued: 'Few knew that it was she, after years of providing emotional support to her younger brother, James, as he struggled with clinical depression, who had been the prime mover of the foundation's mental health campaign.
"It was crafted after careful consultation with mental health professionals, policy experts, and Palace advisers. Now here was Meghan championing a fashionable cause, anointed by Hollywood, sure to make headlines. It was an awkward dynamic. It was later decided that the Fab Four would not play together on stage as a band again."
The event was intended to announce Meghan's appointment as the fourth patron of the Royal Foundation, and there was warm applause from sister-in-law Kate, as William declared he was "delighted" to have her aboard.
However, there were already a few signs of brewing tensions as the group joked about having "healthy disagreements", which Harry said "come so thick and fast". William bantered: "Is it resolved? We don't know!"
Reflecting on how their varying opinions actually came in useful, Harry continued: "I think it's really good we have got four different personalities and we all have that same passion to make a difference.
"We have different opinions and they work really well [together]. Working as a family does have its challenges; of course, it does. [I think] the fact that everybody is laughing shows they know exactly what it's like. But we are stuck together for the rest of our lives."
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