Prince William and Kate's camp was not happy that Meghan overshadowed them by speaking about her mental health struggles during a royal tour, it has been claimed.
The now Prince and Princess of Wales were on the final day of a tour in Pakistan in October 2019 when the Duchess of Sussex's comments stole the headlines.
She looked vulnerable and almost teary when - while in South Africa with Prince Harry - she told ITV's Tom Bradby she had found it hard acclimatising to life in the Firm.
Meghan added: "Thank you for asking, because not many people have asked if I'm OK.
"But it's a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes."
Reflecting on this moment, royal author Valentine Low, in his new book Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown, said the timing of the comments didn't go down well.
A preview of Mr Bradby's documentary, Harry & Meghan: An African Journey, was screened for the media while William and Kate were in Pakistan and it "overshadowed" their coverage, he said.
Mr Low wrote: "William and Kate's team was not happy, it seems, and saw it as a deliberate attempt to knock the couple out of the headlines.
"Relations between the two households became quite tense.
"The documentary had also shown not only Meghan's evident pain but also how far Harry and William had drifted apart."
Mr Bradby was travelling with the Sussexes and their newborn son Archie on the 10-day tour while he collected footage for the film.
The couple's chats with the journalist also included Harry admitting publicly that he and William were "on different paths".
In May last year, Mr Bradby claimed Harry and William's relationship had drifted further over an 18-month period.
"It used to be quite a straightforward thing, right, because they weren't arguing and life was simple," Bradby explained to The Times.
"And then it just slowly descended into something that was difficult personally and publicly—really over the past year and a half."
William had been close friends with the journalist for years, but reportedly felt let down by his growing relationship with Harry.
