Long before the feuds, the interviews and the transatlantic split, there was a first meeting - and according to a royal author, the Princess of Wales summarized the future Duchess of Sussex in just three memorable words. Royal writer Russell Myers claims that when Catherine first met Meghan Markle in early 2017, her verdict was surprisingly warm: the American actress was "friendly," if perhaps slightly too friendly for royal comfort.
That small detail, buried in a new book, has reignited fascination with a relationship that would later become one of the most talked-about dynamics in the modern monarchy.
A First Impression Full Of Sunshine
In an extract from Myers' book, William & Catherine: The Intimate Inside Story, Catherine is said to have described Meghan approvingly while noting there was a "touch of California" about her - a shorthand for the actress's warmth, directness and polished ease that contrasted with the reserved formality of royal introductions.
According to the account, Meghan's charm offensive extended well beyond the Princess of Wales. She reportedly "managed to charm" other senior members of the Royal Family, including Prince William and the late Queen Elizabeth II. Famously, she was said to have performed a "perfect curtsy" when meeting the monarch - a detail that circulated for years as evidence of her early determination to get royal life right.
William Was A Fan Too, At First
The book's most revisionist revelation concerns Prince William himself. It is easy to forget, given everything that followed, but the Prince of Wales reportedly found Meghan genuinely refreshing in those early months. "William did find Meghan quite refreshing at first. He was genuinely happy for Harry and only wanted the best for him," a palace source told Myers.
Yet the same source identified "one thing" that troubled the future king from the start: the possibility of a "clash of styles" between the actress's instincts and the institution's ways. "He definitely saw it as a potential problem on the horizon," the source added - a prediction that history has not been kind to.
When The Honeymoon Period Ended
Tensions reportedly surfaced soon after Harry and Meghan's romance became public, as an unrelenting wave of media coverage about Meghan's background dominated headlines. According to Myers, the onslaught deeply upset Harry, who directed the Kensington Palace communications team to "respond at once" to what was described as a wave of abuse and harassment, including racially charged commentary.
The problem, the author writes, was process. Harry's instruction was issued without consulting either William or the then Prince Charles, breaking with established protocol in which the households coordinated their public responses. The move reportedly led William and Charles to "admonish" Harry - not necessarily over the substance of his concerns, but over the unilateral way he acted. In the fragile early ecosystem of the Markle era, that friction proved corrosive.
Reading The Relationship Today
Relations between the two women are now widely described as strained, with the pair rarely in the same room since Harry and Meghan stepped back from royal duties. Body language analysts and royal correspondents have dissected every shared appearance - the frosty carriages, the separate entrances, the polite but distant interactions at the late Queen's funeral events.
Against that backdrop, the detail of Catherine's original three-word impression carries a certain poignancy. It suggests the rift was not born of instant dislike but of accumulated friction - clashing expectations, media pressure, and two very different women thrown into an institution neither had chosen for the other.
What Royal Biographers Make Of It All
Commentators point out that first impressions inside palaces are notoriously unreliable, shaped by advisors, protocols and the knowledge that every gesture may one day be reported. Meghan's perfect curtsy and Catherine's kind verdict existed in the same brief window when everything still seemed workable - before the wedding planning disputes, the palace splits, and the interview that detonated the relationship in public.
Myers' account is sourced, like all royal books, from insiders with their own perspectives, and neither camp has confirmed the details. Kensington Palace and the Sussexes have consistently declined to comment on the state of the women's relationship.
The Takeaway
The story of those three words is ultimately a story about how easily goodwill curdles under pressure. Catherine reportedly saw a friendly woman with a touch of California sparkle; William saw a possible clash of styles. Both, in their way, were right. And both impressions now read like artifacts from an alternate timeline - the version of royal history where warmth might have won.
Whether the two women will ever patch things up remains one of the monarchy's great open questions. But if the earliest chapters are anything to go by, the story might have read very differently had a few early conversations gone another way. First impressions fade slowly - and this one, friendly as it was, could not outrun everything that followed.
