The kind gesture was reportedly made by Kate, Princess of Wales to try and defuse tension in the days following Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s bombshell exit from the Royal Family

Princess Kate once made a kind gesture to try and defuse tension between Meghan Markle and Queen Elizabeth II, it has been revealed.

When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced they were stepping down as senior members of the Royal Family in February 2020, it sent shockwaves throughout the monarchy – and prompted some royals to respond to the crisis in their own way. In the spirit of ‘never complain, never explain’, royal duties were carried out in public as normal and very little was discussed publicly by the Palace, but there was now the inescapable focus of the world on how the Crown would react to the Sussexes’ bombshell move.

One landmark event saw Harry and Meghan reunite with The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge for the first time in public since they had made the announcement. The Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey, held shortly before a national lockdown was imposed on 10 March 2020, was Harry and Meghan’s very last outing in Britain before they jetted off to LA.

Unfortunately, the build-up is said to have been marred by tensions behind the scenes. Harry and Meghan had reportedly hoped to have been part of Queen Elizabeth II’s procession at the start of the service but were shown to their seats like all the other guests, which reportedly led them to become “upset and emotional.”

However, William and Kate decided upon a last minute change to the running order in an effort to smooth things over, reported the Daily Mail. The couple also offered to skip the procession and join the Sussexes in their seats, so they could all wait together for the service to start. This decision was made so last minute that the order of services had already been printed, showing them as part of the procession.

However, royal commentators said this did not seem to have the desired effect, and the meeting of the two couples appeared somewhat awkward. On the day, the Sussexes arrived first and sat in the second row, while the now-Prince and Princess of Wales followed closesly behind. Crucially, Meghan and Harry didn’t stand to greet them.

It marked a sharp contrast to the 2019 ceremony, when Meghan and Kate greeted each other with a friendly kiss on each cheek. In 2020, the two couples exchanged only one or two words as they waited for the late Queen and Prince Charles to arrive.

There had been rumours of a rift between the two couples in the months leading up to Meghan and Harry announcing their intention to “step back”. This had grown when the couple scrapped their plans to live at Kensington Palace only a few doors away from William and Kate, and moved to Windsor instead.

Meghan would later tell Oprah Winfrey that tensions between her and Kate had begun even before their royal wedding, with a disagreement over Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress spiralling into a major row. While she claimed that harsh words from Kate left her in tears, other recollections of the event have said it was the Princess of Wales that had been tearful following the argument.