According to Meghan, she had already met Prince William in November 2016, but it wasn't until January 2017 that she met Kate Middleton. At their first meeting, Meghan went in for a hug, but to her surprise, Kate's reaction was unexpected.
Meghan said, "Even when Will and Kate came over, and I had met her for the first time, they came over for dinner. I remember I was in ripped jeans, and I was barefoot. Like, I was a hugger, I’ve always been a hugger. I didn’t realize that that is really jarring for a lot of Brits. I guess I started to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside. That there is a forward-facing way of being. And then you close the door and you are like, ‘Oh, great. Okay, we can relax now.’ But that formality carries over on both sides. And that was surprising to me."
Harry and Meghan didn't discuss Kate and William explicitly, but Harry did reveal that his family dismissed the idea of his relationship with Meghan lasting because of her profession. Harry said, "I remember my family first meeting her and being incredibly impressed. Some of them didn’t quite know what to do with themselves…But the fact that I was dating an American actress was probably what clouded their judgment more than anything else in the beginning. Oh, she’s an American actress, this won’t last."
Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand reported earlier in their book on the Sussexes, "Finding Freedom," that Kate "had seemingly not shown much interest" in finding out who Harry's girlfriend was. However, a friend of Kate's explained that it wasn't anything personal towards Meghan. Kate is a very guarded person, and her friend circle is tight. She was careful about letting new people in. Scobie and Durand reported that her friends now "are for the most part the same ones she had on her wedding day."
Despite reaching out to the royal family for comment on the series, Harry & Meghan claimed the royals declined to comment. However, palace sources claimed that the family wasn't contacted, which other sources disputed. Regardless, one palace source noted that the family wouldn't be commenting on the series' content.
