Palace aides worry over royal couples' 'one-upmanship'

Rumours are swirling a new chapter of the supposed royal feud has begun, with the squabble now focusing on rival attempts at gaining the public’s affection.

The commotion, involving Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, came to a head over the weekend when the couples both engaged in attention-grabbing antics.

On Sunday, the Sussex’s uploaded an intimate slideshow of previously unseen wedding photos to their 8.3m Instagram followers in a bid to celebrate their first anniversary.

The move was an interesting one for a couple who continually publicise their apparent want for privacy, particularly surrounding the birth of their son Archie.

Just hours after the snaps went live, the Cambridges decided to share pictures of their own, this time featuring Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis playing in Kate’s new garden at the Chelsea Flower Show.

What’s notable about both couple’s publicity attempts was perhaps the unprecedented nature of the releases.

Never before have William and Kate voluntarily shared such intimate footage of their family, while Harry and Meghan have gone to even further lengths to protect their privacy since marrying last May.

And while the overlap may seem like an innocent clash of timetables, palace aides are insisting there’s more to it.

“It was a case of anything you can do, we can do better,” one insider told The Express.

This was compounded by allegations the couples are challenging each other to ‘game of one-upmanship’ in a bid to be the family’s stars.

However, aides also noted how the couples - who split their households this year - couple couldn’t control that the anniversary clashed with the flower show.

Regardless, the scheduling blunder marks just the latest installment in a series of differences between the couples.

These first began with an indication of a feud between Meghan and Kate and later extended as far as the princes, leading many to question why the palace didn’t kill the rumours earlier.

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