'No merit': Society mag hits back at William and Kate

The society magazine at the centre of a legal stoush with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge has hit back at the royals claiming their complaint has ‘no merit’.

Kensington Palace had sent a legal letter on behalf of William and Kate to Tatler magazine over what it described as an ‘inaccurate and false’ article titled ‘Catherine the Great’, demanding it be removed from the website.

But now Tatler has hit back with its own statement: “We can confirm we have received correspondence from lawyers acting for the Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge and believe it has no merit.”

The article in question, written by author Anna Pasternak, referred to Kate Middleton as being ‘exhausted and trapped’, with the royals believing it also made unfounded criticism of the Duchess’s family, her children, and her weight - describing her as “perilously thin”.

“The piece is full of lies,” a royal source told The Mail this week. “There is no truth to their claim that the Duchess feels overwhelmed with work, nor that the Duke is obsessed with Carole Middleton. It's preposterous and downright wrong.”

Last week the palace issued a rare statement, denying the claims made about Kate, and revealing plans to take legal action over the story.

“This story contains a swathe of inaccuracies and false misrepresentations which were not put to Kensington Palace prior to publication,” a statement from Kensington Palace read.

Kate and her husband Prince William have been seen on frequent Zoom calls in recent weeks as they speak to staff on the frontline battling the coronavirus pandemic.

The mother of three, 38, is working more this year compared with last according to the engagements listed in the Court Circular, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

But the society magazine quoted the friend of the duchess as saying: “Kate is furious about the larger workload. Of course she’s smiling and dressing appropriately but she doesn’t want this.

“She feels exhausted and trapped. She’s working as hard as a top CEO, who has to be wheeled out all the time, without the benefits of boundaries and plenty of holidays.”

Since the coronavirus outbreak led to lockdown in the UK, Kate and William have been living in Anmer Hall, their Norfolk home, where they have been homeschooling their children.

They have shifted their usual royal work focus and are concentrating on the response to the pandemic, including the mental health of those frontline and key workers across the UK.

The couple will inevitably have faced a larger workload following the decision by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to step back as senior royals.

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