Meghan begs palace to 'set the record straight' in leaked email

A royal expert has leaked an email he claims was sent by Meghan Markle to royal aides requesting they 'set the record straight' on a persistent and untrue rumour about her and her sister-in-law, Kate Middleton.

In an op-ed for Harper's Bazaar, resident royal reporter Omid Scobie included an excerpt of the duchess' email in which she addresses the widely-reported story that she made Kate cry ahead of her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry.

As Meghan, 39, revealed in her explosive tell-all with Oprah, it was the opposite that occurred, with an "upset" Kate making Meghan cry during a flower girl dress fitting.

Scobie, who also authored the best-selling book on Meghan and Harry, Finding Freedom, says that Meghan wrote to the palace in January 2020 following a push to have Harry cosign a statement quashing a separate rumour involving Prince William.

According to Scobie, royals aides had asked Harry, 37, to publically refute newspaper reports that his brother "constantly bullied" the Sussexes before they stepped down from senior royal duties.

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According to Scobie's source, Meghan wrote in reply: "Well, if we're just throwing any statement out there now, then perhaps KP can finally set the record straight about me [not making Kate cry.]"

Her plea, however, fell on deaf ears according to Scobie, who wrote: "As with many requests made by the couple, her suggestion was ignored."

He claims that Meghan was told that the Duchess of Cambridge "should never be dragged into idle gossip."

In contrast, on January 13, Princes Harry and William released a joint statement condemning the "offensive" and "false" bullying claims.

Silent sisters-in-law

The leaked email comes amid claims the royal sisters-in-law have not 'spoken directly' in over a year.

An Us Weekly insider revealed that, while Meghan and Kate, 39, were 'never that close,' the silence between the two is due to the tension between their respective husbands, Princes William and Harry.

"[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," the source said.

They went on to claim that the brothers had communicated 'sparingly' over the past 12 months and that their animosity for one another has 'spilled over' to their wives, making it hard for them to be friendly, too.

Meghan: 'Kate made me cry'

When she sat down with Oprah, former Suits star Meghan set the record straight on past rumours that she had brought Kate to tears in the lead up to her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry.

Meghan told Oprah that it was "the reverse" that had happened, with Kate making her cry over a flower girl dress.

"A few days before the wedding [Kate] was upset about something. Pertaining to... the issue was correct about flower girl dresses. And it made me cry," she said.

Meghan said that she forgave Kate after she 'owned it and apologised' with a gift of flowers and a note. She decided to 'protect' Kate by keeping the truth to herself and was 'shocked' when the 'Meghan made Kate cry' story began circulating six months after her wedding.

"What was hard to get over was being blamed for something that not only I didn’t do, but that happened to me. And, and the people who were part of our wedding going to our comms team and saying, 'I know this didn’t happen.' I don’t have to tell them what actually happened," the duchess explained.

Oprah questioned why, if those in the royal family knew the truth, no one including Kate made efforts to correct the story that was being plastered across front pages around the world.

Meghan asserted that her sister-in-law was a 'good person' and speculated as to why she didn't come forward and put things right.

"[...] Look I would hope that [Kate] would have wanted that corrected and maybe in the same way that the palace wouldn’t let anybody else negate it, they wouldn’t let her because she’s a good person," she said.

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