Royal Expert Says Kate's Trust Issues With Meghan Markle Could Take 'Unexpected Turn' Amid Reconciliation

LONDON — A royal commentator has suggested that the long-standing tension between Catherine, the Princess of Wales, and Meghan Markle may not necessarily be permanent, even as questions persist over whether genuine trust could ever be restored between the two women following years of public friction within the royal family.

The comments came during a recent episode of the Daily Expresso podcast, hosted by JJ Anisiobi and featuring royal expert and former TalkTV presenter Daisy McAndrew, as the pair discussed the current state of relations within the royal family following a recent private meeting between Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and King Charles III.

Harry, Meghan and their two children, Archie and Lilibet, met privately with King Charles and Queen Camilla at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire on July 10, 2026, marking the first time the king had seen his grandchildren in person in more than four years. The meeting has been widely interpreted as a potential, if tentative, step toward repairing the broader rift within the royal family that followed Harry and Meghan's 2020 departure from official royal duties.

During the podcast discussion, Anisiobi raised pointed questions about whether Catherine's relationship with Meghan could ever meaningfully improve, framing the princess's wariness as rooted in specific grievances. "Catherine doesn't trust Meghan Markle for good reason. Meghan Markle slated the royal family," Anisiobi said, pointing specifically to Harry and Meghan's widely watched 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey as a pivotal moment in the breakdown of relations within the family. During that interview, the couple discussed their experiences within the royal institution, including allegations concerning race and how they were treated by the family and its surrounding institutions. Anisiobi then posed a direct question to McAndrew: "Can you ever see a point when Catherine can actually trust Meghan?"

McAndrew responded by distinguishing between genuine personal trust and a more practical, institutionally motivated arrangement between the two women. "I mean, trust is something so personal, isn't it? I can see a point where they come to some sort of arrangement for the good of the group, for the good of the firm, and I don't know Catherine's personality enough," McAndrew said, using "the firm," a common shorthand term for the institutional royal family, to describe the kind of pragmatic accommodation she believes could eventually emerge between the two women, even absent a full personal reconciliation.

McAndrew went on to draw a broader comparison to how different people in her own life have historically responded to similarly difficult personal ruptures, suggesting that predicting Catherine's eventual approach remains genuinely uncertain. "If it happened to certain friends of mine, I could tell you who would be able to bury the hatchet and who wouldn't. I have some friends that would never ever be able to move on. And I have some friends that be like, 'Yeah, life's too short. I forgive you because, you know, it's it's it's damaging me to keep this grudge going.' And those are two very different personalities," McAndrew said. She concluded by acknowledging she could not say with confidence which type of response Catherine might ultimately show. "And I'm not sure which one Catherine is," she said.

The discussion reflects a broader pattern of speculative commentary that has continued to surround the relationship between Catherine and Meghan since Harry and Meghan's departure from royal duties in 2020. The two women's relationship reportedly experienced strain even before that departure, with tension first surfacing publicly around the time of Meghan's 2018 wedding to Harry, and further reports of friction emerging in the years that followed regarding various aspects of royal protocol, family dynamics and public perception.

The renewed attention on Catherine and Meghan's relationship follows a period of significant personal challenges for both women, each of whom has publicly discussed undergoing cancer treatment over the past two years. Catherine announced in 2024 that she was undergoing chemotherapy following abdominal surgery, later confirming in January 2025 that she had entered remission. King Charles similarly disclosed his own cancer diagnosis in February 2024 and has continued ongoing treatment, developments that have periodically shaped the broader emotional context surrounding discussions of family reconciliation within royal commentary.

The July meeting at Highgrove has generated substantial speculation among royal watchers regarding whether it represents the beginning of a more sustained effort toward healing the broader family rift, or a more limited, one-off gesture focused primarily on allowing King Charles to reconnect with his grandchildren after an extended period without in-person contact. Neither Buckingham Palace nor representatives for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have issued detailed public statements characterizing the broader significance or intended follow-up to the Highgrove meeting.

Commentary from royal experts such as McAndrew and Anisiobi reflects opinion and analysis rather than confirmed insider knowledge of the specific dynamics between Catherine and Meghan, and outlets covering such discussions typically present them as one perspective among many rather than an authoritative account of the family's private relationships. Royal commentary programs and publications have continued to feature a wide range of often conflicting interpretations regarding the prospects for reconciliation between different branches of the family, reflecting both the intense ongoing public interest in the topic and the limited amount of confirmed, on-the-record information available regarding the family's private discussions.

As speculation continues regarding the broader implications of the Highgrove meeting and the future of relations between Harry, Meghan and the wider royal family, questions specifically regarding Catherine and Meghan's personal relationship are likely to remain a recurring subject of royal commentary, particularly given the significant public interest that has followed the two women's dynamic since Meghan first joined the royal family in 2018. Neither Catherine nor Meghan has publicly addressed the state of their relationship in recent commentary, and any eventual arrangement between them, whether a genuine personal reconciliation or a more limited practical accommodation, is likely to remain a matter of speculation until either woman or an authorized royal representative addresses the matter directly.