Meghan Markle Believes She’s ‘Judged’ by a ‘Different Rulebook’ in Comparison to Princess Kate

Barefoot in the grass beside Prince William, 43, and their three children, Princess Kate, 44, looked every inch the picture-perfect future queen in an intimate family portrait released on Instagram to mark the couple’s 15th wedding anniversary on April 29. Days later, the Prince and Princess of Wales shared another joyful image — a glowing 11th birthday portrait of daughter Princess Charlotte smiling in a field of daisies, followed by a video of the tween cuddling the family’s cocker spaniels and running along a beach.

While the heartwarming images of Charlotte and brothers Prince George, 12, and Prince Louis, 8, delighted royal watchers, Star has learned they may have reopened a deep wound for Kate’s estranged sister-in-law more than 5,000 miles away. Meghan Markle, 44, and husband Prince Harry, 41, feel like “there’s one set of rules for William and Kate and another for them,” a source tells Star. “All the resentment over the double standard is bubbling up again.”

Days after Charlotte’s birthday images were released, Meghan shared her own Instagram posts marking son Prince Archie‘s 7th birthday on May 6, including a snapshot of him and sister Princess Lilibet, who turns 5 in June, from behind, and a never-before-seen photo of him as a newborn lying on Harry’s chest. But the post sparked criticism online, with commenters accusing the couple of everything from “trying to stay relevant” to “pimping their children to stay in [the] media spotlight.”

Kate and William “are very clearly using their children as part of the royal image and the branding of the family,” says the source. “Yet Meghan’s been criticized for even including the smallest glimpse of Archie and Lilibet. She feels like she’s constantly being judged by a completely different rulebook, and no matter what she does, Kate will be the golden girl and she will be the villain.”

Double Standards

The renewed scrutiny has hit a nerve because Meghan has long argued she and Harry are held to a harsher standard than the Prince and Princess of Wales — by both the palace and the public. In a bombshell 2021 CBS interview, the former Suits actress blasted the constant comparisons between herself and Kate. “If you love me, you don’t have to hate her. And if you love her, you don’t have to hate me,” she said at the time.

According to the source, Meghan believes she entered royal life already fighting an uphill battle. “Kate’s the quintessential Brit who’s terribly reserved and somewhat inward with her emotions,” says the source, while Meghan “speaks her mind,” and “is not afraid to amend and improve the status quo. They’ve always been poles apart and Meghan just wishes people would stop comparing them.”

She once hoped she and Kate together could become “a positive and powerful force for change,” the source adds, but tensions steadily worsened as William and Harry’s relationship disintegrated amid the Sussexes’ growing belief they were being treated unfairly. “Kate was always coloring inside the lines,” the source explains. “She wasn’t willing to risk anything that could be perceived as breaking royal protocol.”

The growing divide became painfully public when reports surfaced claiming Meghan had made Kate cry during a disagreement involving bridesmaid dresses ahead of her 2018 wedding. Meghan later insisted in her bombshell CBS interview that “the reverse happened,” revealing Kate had apologized with flowers and a handwritten note. “I’ve forgiven her,” Meghan said, calling Kate “a good person,” several outlets, including Marie Claire, reported at the time. But according to the source, the damage was already done. “Once the word was out that they didn’t get along, the writing was on the wall,” says the source. “Meghan knew at that point that her future within The Firm — as well as the U.K. as a whole — was doomed.”

The Picture-Perfect Family

The latest Wales family images have only reinforced a painful reality. William and Kate are the monarchy’s untouchable golden couple, a pair celebrated for the exact kind of carefully curated family moments Meghan and Harry are relentlessly mocked for sharing. “Seeing the photos it’s hard for even Meghan to deny how happy the Waleses look as a family,” says the source. “They’re living this perfect life and idolized the world over, which is impossible to compete with.”

Meghan has publicly defended her decision to keep Archie and Lili’s faces hidden. On top of threat concerns, in a 2022 interview with The Cut, she also questioned why she would ever hand photos of her children to the British media she and Harry have long accused of racism and bullying before sharing them herself. “Why would I give the very people that are calling my children the N-word a photo of my child before I can share it with the people that love my child?” she asked.

Still, according to the source, part of Meghan wishes she could share more openly. “In an ideal world Meghan would be showing the kids’ faces,” says the source. “Seeing the Waleses get away with it so brazenly when she’d be torn to shreds is really tough to take.”

Adding to the tension, the couples are finding themselves compared on the world stage once again. After Harry and Meghan wrapped a high-profile trip to Australia in April that mixed charity appearances and business opportunities, Kate announced a mid-May solo trip to Italy focused on her early childhood initiative. “There’s definitely a sense in royal circles that the competition stakes have been reignited again,” says the source.

If anything, the latest comparisons between the couples have only deepened Meghan’s conviction that Kate is protected by a palace machine determined to cast her as the big bad guy. “Meghan has no doubt the Waleses are still stirring the pot and bad-mouthing her,” says the source. “That’s the main reason why it rankles and affects her so much.”

According to the source, Meghan remains especially frustrated that Kate continues to be viewed publicly as the monarchy’s flawless future queen despite the conflicts that have unfolded privately behind palace walls. “Meghan would love one day to expose how Kate isn’t this sweet, faultless person that everyone seems to think,” claims the source. “Meghan says their unfortunate showdown before the wedding was just one example of how frosty and controlling Kate can be.”

Harry, meanwhile, may be carrying his own lingering resentment after years of public feuding with both William and the royal establishment. In the couple’s 2022 Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, the British army veteran accused palace officials of protecting his brother at his expense. Even after all the dirty laundry he aired in his bestselling 2023 memoir, Spare, the source says Harry still believes there is more of “his truth” left to tell. “Harry feels similarly resentful of the Waleses,” says the source, noting his belief that “William and Kate’s secrets won’t stay buried forever.”

Bracing for a Showdown

The tensions may soon become impossible to avoid. Harry is expected back in the U.K. in July for the one-year countdown celebrations ahead of the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham, England. As Star has previously reported, he would love to have Meghan and the children by his side. But after years of acrimony and ongoing security fears, Meghan is reluctant to join him. According to the source, “She’s dreading facing more of the same,” if she were to return for what would be her first visit since the late Queen Elizabeth II‘s 2022 funeral.

Despite the smiling photos, carefully choreographed videos and polished public appearances on both sides of the Atlantic, the emotional wounds clearly remain as raw as ever. “It’s already the most epic couple feud in royal history,” says the source, “and now it seems poised to go up yet another level.”