Before the rift, before the interviews, before the headlines split the royal household into camps, there was a first meeting - and according to a royal author, the Princess of Wales walked away from it with a three-word impression of Meghan Markle that has aged like few royal anecdotes ever have.
The First Encounter
Royal author Russell Myers claims that when the Princess of Wales first met the Duchess of Sussex in early 2017 - several months into Meghan's relationship with Prince Harry - Catherine's initial impression was genuinely positive. In an extract from his book, William and Catherine: The Intimate Inside Story, Myers writes that Catherine described Meghan as "friendly", albeit perhaps slightly too friendly for the setting.
According to the account, Catherine observed there was a "touch of California" about her - the phrase now famous among royal watchers for its mixture of warmth and wary judgment. At that stage, relations between the two women were cordial, even promising. Few who saw them together at early engagements would have predicted how thoroughly the relationship would sour.
Meghan's Charm Offensive Worked - At First
Myers reports that Meghan managed to charm more than just Catherine. She was said to have made a strong early impression on Prince William and on the late Queen Elizabeth II as well. Most notably, she was reported to have performed a "perfect curtsy" when meeting the monarch - a detail that circulated widely at the time as evidence that the American actress was taking royal protocol seriously.
In those early months, the palace had reasons for optimism. Harry appeared happier than he had been in years. The newest couple drew enormous public interest, and the prospect of a modernizing royal household with international appeal was a storyline the institution could have used to its advantage.
When the Coverage Turned
According to Myers, the trouble began as soon as the romance became public and the media focus on Meghan's background intensified. The "onslaught of media coverage" reportedly deeply upset Harry, who responded by directing the Kensington Palace communications team to respond at once - highlighting what was described as a wave of abuse and harassment, including what were characterized as racial undertones in parts of the press.
The problem, according to the book, was how he did it. The decision was reportedly taken without consulting either William or King Charles III, who was then Prince Charles. The move went against established royal protocol, and both William and Charles reportedly "admonished" Harry for acting unilaterally. In the palace's view, the complaint spotlighted the very coverage the family preferred to starve of attention.
William's Early Concerns
Catherine was not the only one forming early impressions. According to a palace source quoted by Myers, William also found Meghan refreshing at the beginning. "It's easy to forget now, given everything that has gone on, but William did find Meghan quite refreshing at first. He was genuinely happy for Harry and only wanted the best for him," the source said.
Yet the same source indicated there was "one thing" that troubled the Prince of Wales: the possibility of a clash of styles between the two households. "He definitely saw it as a potential problem on the horizon," the source added. In retrospect, that concern proved almost prophetic - the eventual split of the households, the move to Windsor, and the couples' eventual geographic and professional separation all flowed from the dynamic William had reportedly anticipated.
From Three Words to Total Estrangement
The distance between "a touch of California" and today's widely reported estrangement maps the entire arc of the royal split. What began as a stylistic observation hardened, according to numerous accounts, into real friction: disagreements over staff, over the couples' public roles, over media strategy, and finally over the decision to step back from royal duties altogether.
Royal biographers have increasingly focused on these early months precisely because they complicate the simple narratives. The claim that Catherine disliked Meghan from the start does not hold up in Myers' telling - nor does the claim that the palace warmly embraced her. The truth, as these accounts sketch it, is more ordinary and more human: two very different women, raised in different worlds, meeting under pressures neither fully controlled.
Why the Old Impression Still Matters
Years of public feuding have made every detail of the early relationship a matter of record and argument. The "friendly... a touch of California" remark matters because it captures the moment before everything calcified - when the assessment was about style rather than loyalty, about differences rather than betrayals.
Reconciliation between the households remains, by all credible accounts, distant. But anecdotes like this one serve as reminders that the split was not predestined by a first meeting gone wrong. According to the people who watched it happen, the first impressions were warm, the curtsy was perfect, and the problems arrived later - carried in on a wave of press coverage, protocol disputes, and two couples who never quite learned to speak each other's language.
