Kate Middleton has been wrongly accused of snubbing Meghan Markle at their first ever meeting – and another translation issue is to blame

The publication of Omid Scobie’s Endgame has caused a huge fallout after two ‘royal racists’ were named in the Dutch version of the book – and now it seems another translation issue in Prince Harry‘s memoir months earlier could have wrongly painted the Princess of Wales in a bad light.  

After the publication of Prince Harry’s memoir Spare, it was widely reported that Kate chose to remain outside in the garden at Kensington Palace with her children rather than meet Meghan on the first day she came over to be introduced to William.

However, Spare was accidentally released in Spain days before the official publication date in January 2023, and Harry’s words, translated from Spanish to English, have been widely misinterpreted as Kate being nearby in the garden, rather than away from home altogether.  

According to Prince Harry’s own words in the English language version, he asked William where Kate was, to which his brother replied: ‘Out with the kids’. 

The Princess of Wales allegedly snubbed Meghan at their first ever meeting, but it seems the incident was actually lost in translation. PIctured: The Windsor wives attending church at Sandringham on Christmas Day 2018 

The Spanish version of the book says that when Harry asked where Kate was, William replied: ‘Fuera, con los ninos’, which translates directly as: ‘Out with the children,’ and not ‘outside’

The English version of the book showed that in Harry’s own words, Kate was out and about and not hiding away in the garden 

The Spanish version of the book says that when Harry asked where Kate was, William replied: ‘Fuera, con los ninos.’ 

This translates directly as: ‘Out with the children,’ and not ‘outside’, but the myth has persisted. 

It comes hot on the heels of another translation drama when the Dutch version of Omid Scobie‘s book Endgame named two alleged ‘royal racists’.

The translators insist the names of Kate and King Charles were in the version of the book they were given, Omid denies it and Buckingham Palace is said to be considering legal action. 

In Spare, released in January this year, the Duke of Sussex recalled the first time he brought Meghan over to William and Kate’s home so they could meet each other.

The book described the scene with Meghan giving William a big hug, something which took ‘Willy’ by surprise because he’s not much of a hugger, according to Harry.

The pair exchanged pleasantries and Harry then asked William where Kate was, to which his brother replied: ‘Out with the kids’.

It didn’t seem like a big deal with Harry responding, ‘Ah, too bad. Next time.’

Kate, pictured opening the Children’s Day Surgery Unit at St Thomas’ Hospital this week, was out with her children when Meghan first popped over to visit and meet William 

The King led his family in a show of unity after a tumultuous week of royal revelations. The four most senior family members posed together for a photographer before The Diplomatic Reception

Omid (pictured) has doubled down to defend Endgame and refused to take the blame for the racism scandal

Although he recalls Meghan’s first meetings with the Queen, Charles, Camilla and William in the book, he never actually mentions what happened when she was first introduced to Kate.

But later in Harry’s memoir, he describes an evening between the four where Meghan cooked dinner and everyone appeared to get along.

The conversation was jovial with topics jumping from Wimbledon – both women shared a passion for tennis – to the popular US legal drama Suits, which Meghan starred in for seven seasons.

Prince Harry spoke about the early days of Meghan’s relationship with Kate and William in his memoir, and said that everyone got on well  

‘[Prince William] seemed to like Meg, despite his oft-cited concerns. Kate seemed to like her too,’ the book said.

The only quibble, Harry mused, was how differently the two women were dressed with Meghan in ‘ripped jeans, barefoot’ while Kate was ‘done up to the nines’.

But again, the book didn’t paint the contrasting attire as a sticking point with Harry recalling that it was ‘no big deal, I thought.’

While both Meghan and Kate have said little on the record about the early days of their relationship, Meghan did openly gush about her relationship with Kate in a 2017 BBC interview.

The interview, filmed shortly after Meghan and Harry’s engagement, showed Meghan actively praising her future sister-in-law as being ‘wonderful’ during her early days in the royal family.

In the interview, Harry said that both William and his wife had been eager to meet Meghan once they discovered the pair were dating.

‘William was longing to meet [Meghan] and so was Catherine, so you know, being our neighbours, we managed to get that in quite a few times now and Catherine has been absolutely…’ he said. 

Meghan quickly jumped in to say that Kate had been ‘wonderful’. Harry later added that both William and Charles had been ‘amazing’ and that the couples had enjoyed ‘a handful of teas and meetings and all sorts of gatherings’ as part of Meghan’s induction into the royal family.

Despite the fallout from the publication of Endgame, it’s been business as usual this week for the royals, with the King putting on a united front with Queen Camilla, Kate and William at the annual pre-Christmas diplomatic reception at Buckingham Palace. 

The four most senior British Royal Family members posed together for a photograph before the ‘white tie and tiaras’ event. 

Buckingham Palace has not commented publicly, but aides have made clear that the King and his senior advisors are ‘considering all options’ open to them over the unsubstantiated claims, including the possibility of legal action.

They have, however, been comforted by the sympathetic public reaction they have received to ‘revelations’ in the poorly-reviewed book and may decide to let that speak for itself.

The hatchet-job against the Royal Family has been widely pilloried even by normally sympathetic media outlets like the New York Times, which described one chapter as ‘like a press release cooked up by ChatGPT’. 

Endgame sold just under 6,500 copies in Britain during its first five days on scale despite a blizzard of publicity – and has now plunged to 215 on the Amazon ‘bestsellers’ list.