When Meghan Markle made claims during her interview with Oprah Winfrey that Kate Middleton made her cry, the Duchess of Cambridge decided to "rise above" the claims to act as peacemaker, according to a royal expert.
During the controversial interview with the US TV host, which aired on ITV in March, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan made a series of shocking statements about life in the royal family which had the whole world talking.
Harry who now resides in Los Angeles with pregnant Meghan and their son Archie, hadn't come face to face with his family since the interview until he flew back to the UK for his grandfather, Prince Philip's funeral.
After the funeral service, Kate was the first member of the family to be seen chatting to him. Meghan, who is heavily pregnant, wasn't able to attend after her doctor advised her not to take the trip, for health reasons.
Writing for Stella magazine, royal expert Camilla Tominey explains: "Despite the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Oprah Winfrey interview, when Kate was accused of making Meghan cry during a bridesmaid’ s dress fitting and failing to support her, Kate rose decidedly above it all.
"Setting aside any personal resentment she may still feel about Harry and Meghan’s televised two-hour tell-all, Kate put her best foot forward in trying to carve a path to reconciliation between the brothers. Few would have blamed her for giving Harry the cold shoulder, yet she clearly resolved that the situation needed to be appeased rather than aggravated."
Christopher Wilson told the magazine that he didn't believe Kate's decision to start up a conversation with Harry, which resulted in the Duke chatting one-on-one with William as the family walked away from the St George's Chapel service, wasn't a planned event.
He said: "I thought it was entirely spontaneous and clever in making the two brothers talk to each other.
"It was a deft move that shows the Duchess is not overawed by all that’s going on."
Kate was always extremely close to Harry, and he once described her as the sister he never had.
They attended a number of joint engagements together and joined forces to launch their mental health organisation, Heads Together.
When Harry was living at Kensington Palace he spent a lot of time at the Cambridges' apartment, and Kate would often cook him dinner.
She was reportedly always on hand to offer him advice, especially when it came to love and romance.
A source told the Daily Mail: "Kate has quite a different relationship with Harry than she has with William.
"Harry appeals to her sillier side because he is carefree, footloose and loves banter,' they said. 'He finds things funny about people and says so."
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