Princess Kate 'feels no pressure' to compete with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

Princess Kate 'feeling no pressure' to compete with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

PA
Dorothy Reddin

By Dorothy Reddin


Published: 15/09/2024

- 11:00

The Princess of Wales, who has now finished her course of chemotherapy, stepped back from public life over the past nine months

Princess Kate is "feeling no pressure" to compete with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, a royal commentator has claimed.

The Princess of Wales, who has been battling cancer this year, has stepped back from public life over the past nine months.


As a result, William and Kate have not undertaken any foreign royal tours recently, in stark contrast to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

In May, Harry and Meghan travelled to Nigeria and then three months later jetted off to Colombia.

Princess Kate, Prince Harry and Meghan MarklePrincess Kate 'feeling no pressure' to compete with Prince Harry and Meghan MarklePA
Prince William and Princess Kate

Prince William and Princess Kate on tour with their children in Canada in 2016

PA

Both tours, although not technically official royal visits, received positive press coverage and reaction.

Gareth Russell, a royal commentator, spoke exclusively to GB News to explain whether or not Kate and William will be feeling the pressure to undertake a foreign tour to compete with the Sussexes.

He said: “I don't think the pressure is mounting on the Prince and Princess of Wales in terms of competing with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

“In terms of global interest in them, and certainly within Britain and even America, the Prince and Princess of Wales are figures generally of much greater interest to most people than the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Harry and MeghanHarry and Meghan were invited to Colombia by the Vice President Getty

“The tours that the Sussexes have undertaken recently have certainly gone successfully, but they haven't garnered the same kind of attention that a royal tour necessarily would.

“We're still not seeing, at the minute, a massive uptick in the amount of public interest in the Sussexes compared to, say, the interest in the Princess of Wales.

“I think there certainly will be interest in new royal tours once the Princess of Wales is well.”

Earlier this week, Princess Kate announced she had finished her course of preventative chemotherapy, but that she was still on the road to a full recovery.

Prince William and Princess Kate

Princess Kate and Prince William's tour in Jamaica in 2022 garnered mass media attention

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Meghan Markle and Prince HarryHarry and Meghan were invited to Nigeria by the country's chief of defence staffReuters

It comes as King Charles, who is also battling cancer, is set to travel to Australia and Samoa this October with Queen Camilla.

Russell continued: “We're seeing obviously that the focus, given the King's forthcoming itinerary, will be the Commonwealth.

“But at the minute, I don't think we're seeing a huge upsurge in public popularity for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

“They're not garnering quite the same amount of attention as they did in 2020 and 2021 so at the minute, I think there really isn't any pressure on the Prince and Princess of Wales.

“I think the public is very broadly behind the idea of the Princess of Wales taking her time to focus on her health, that still seems to be where the public's primary focus on the Waleses is.”

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