What was it really all about, ‘Battle of the bridesmaid dresses tells us everything we need to know about ‘mean’ Kate’!
I was fascinated to learn more about the bespoke MOB outfits for Kate's wedding, this time I wanted to learn more about the flower girls dress debacle!!
Everyone has known for years that there was a disagreement between Meghan and Kate about Meghan’s bridesmaids, which included Princess Charlotte, but it was all guesswork. Was it to do with tights? Or maybe it was the dresses themselves: the design, the fabric?
We definitely knew – or thought we did – that Meghan had made Kate cry about this, which was when things got real.
Kate, stoic Kate, who for years dealt magnanimously with hassle and teasing (remember “Waity Katie”?) of not just her but also her various relatives.
We liked Meghan, she was modern and glamorous, but we didn’t know her like we knew Kate. Someone we didn’t know making Kate cry was just, like, the end. And now, finally, Harry has revealed a potent text exchange between his sister-in-law and his fiancée that takes it all to a new level.
So here we go: the bridesmaid dresses were handmade in France because, to an American, French couture is the apex of all things. But because of this, they were made based on measurements only, without a fitting. The garments arrived back in the UK rather close to the wedding and, four days before the event, Kate told Meghan that the dress did not fit Princess Charlotte. It was, says Kate in a text, “too big, too long, too baggy. She cried when she tried it on at home.”
Meghan replies, a day later, that a tailor at Kensington Palace is waiting to re-fit the dresses. Kate drops the bombshell that she, and her own wedding organiser, think that all the dresses need to be remade. There is no time for this and it freaks Meghan out. Meanwhile, her father, Thomas, is cutting up rough. It’s all a mess. “I’m not sure what else to say,” Meghan texts back. “If the dress doesn’t fit then please take Charlotte to see Ajay. He’s been waiting all day.” Then Kate delivers the frankly killer, “Fine.”
Now, I know what you’re probably thinking “Kate sounds mean.” And it’s true that Kate does sound a bit curt,but I suggest she herself is hugely freaked by how chaotic things are. If she would later be triggered by Meghan telling her she had “baby brain” she must have hit the roof when Meghan instructed her to take Charlotte to the tailor “as the other mums are doing”.
Kate is not a “mum”, like “others”; Kate is going to be the queen of United Kingdom. This is not Kate being up herself, this is Kate understanding that she is no longer a person, she is an institution.
She is also a Middleton, and they plan events. It’s their whole thing. They would never in hell send kids’ clothes to be made blind in France. A contact, who has some inside knowledge, said she suspects Meghan was advised not to send the dresses to France precisely because they would arrive late and not fit.
Meghan didn’t understand why this mattered, why the damn dresses couldn’t be taken to the damn tailor. Kate’s reaction to this, surely, was exasperation at this lack of sense: why refuse advice, only for the dresses to come back wastefully late and wrong, then demand that Kate, on her own time, correct this. They could have been made perfectly first time round by some nice lady on the Fulham Road!
Meghan, already on the edge, is now aghast at all these mean British people being so mean to her. Harry arrives home to find Meghan “on the floor crying”. My heart goes out to her – I’m serious! I do think she was trying to fit in, but couldn’t fathom that being a British princess means eating cereal out of Tupperware and having clothes made in Fulham.
It’s just so clear to me now that all this was a classic case of an Elsa versus Anna personality-plus-culture clash. Meghan is exuberant, romantic, emotional. Kate is organised, dutiful, practical. Throw in a wedding, which turns most people into their worst selves and you have a row about bridesmaid’s dresses that lasts fully five years in which, and I can’t believe how disappointed I am to say this, absolutely no one is to blame.
So what can you learn from all this?
Your wedding is one of the most important days of your life. You put a lot of thought and effort into it. You can listen to advice and then decide what suits you best. Expert advice is vitally important, well worth taking into consideration. Planning is essential and you need to understand that fit is one of the most important things. You can choose a wonderful style but if the fit is not perfect it can totally soul the look.
Even a flower girl knows whether she is happy to with her dress.
