Kate Middleton and Prince William send birthday wish to Meghan Markle amid royal feud

According to Mirror, Prince William and Kate Middleton have sent public birthday wishes to Meghan Markle via their social media accounts as the Duchess of Sussex is celebrating her 41st birthday today, August 4. The Cambridges took to Twitter and Instagram stories and shared a snap of Meghan standing outside St Paul's Cathedral during the Queen's Platinum Jubilee earlier in June. For the caption, Willam and Kate wrote a simple message: 'Wishing a happy birthday to The Duchess of Sussex!'

The Queen didn't send any birthday message to Meghan

Shortly afterward, other royals, including William's father, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles also posted a heartwarming birthday message to Meghan. They shared an almost identical snap of the Duchess of Sussex attending the Jubilee celebrations in June on their Clarence House Twitter account, captioning: 'Happy birthday to The Duchess of Sussex!' complete with a balloon emoji.

Meanwhile, the Queen hasn't released any statement to pay tribute to Meghan in honor of her milestone while last year, her official Twitter page - Royal Family, wrote: 'Wishing The Duchess of Sussex a very Happy Birthday today!' with a red balloon emoji. According to Hello!, Meghan shares her special day with a very important person in Her Majesty's life - the Queen Mother. In fact, King George VI's late wife was born on the same day but 81 years before Meghan said hello to the world.

While there have been no photos of Meghan's birthday celebration, Hello! writes that the Duchess will be likely to mark the occasion privately with Prince Harry and their two children, Archie and Lilibet, in their California estate.

The royal greetings to Meghan on her special day come amid a fiery, long-standing feud between Prince Harry William and Meghan's husband, Prince Harry. Talking to Geo TV, royal expert Phil Dampier remarked that the wishes were just 'a band-aid' to stop the royal tension from escalating further. He said:

'I think Charles, the Queen, and William and Kate don’t want to make the situation worse by having a public slanging match with them, but privately I think they are very upset by how things have turned out.'

The ongoing feud between Harry and William

Since Prince Harry and Meghan quit their senior royal titles and left Britain for California's Pacific coast in 2020, a string of events has emerged that only led to the worsening of an already frosty and fractured relationship.

While Prince William, who is bound to be the Future King of England, has always been committed to royal duties and leading a decent life, Prince Harry has regularly been typecast as a rebellious royal 'bad boy'. The Duchess of Sussex, whose future has never been written in stone, was reportedly jealous of his brother's determined future as a monarch, according to Express. Prince Harry's position in the line of succession was pushed even further after the birth of William's three children - George, Charlotte, and Louis. The rift grew further after Prince Harry tied the knot after a whirlwind romance with American actress Meghan Markle, who was not the Queen's favorite in the early days.

The tension was not just a simple sibling rivalry and became apparently implacable following Harry's infamous bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, in which the Duke of Sussex made several allegations about the royals' treatment of him and Meghan. In the interview, Harry claimed that his brother was 'trapped' within the royal system, accused his father Charles of cutting him off financially, and revealed a royal member made a racist comment about his son Archie's skin tone.

Since then, the relationship between Harry's family and the other royals has been spiraling downward. In June, the Duke of Sussex brought his family back to the U.K for the first time in two years to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. However, they only briefly attended the Trooping the Colour and service at thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral, while being notably absent from the Platinum Jubilee Party and Pageant, the Epsom Derby during the four-day festivities. Most importantly, Harry, Meghan, and their children no longer showed up on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, which means a relegation in their title.

The new biography Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsors, which was written by famed investigative journalist Tom Bower, continues to send shockwaves to royal watchers. In the book composed of several interviews, Bower claimed that Harry once felt his wife was mistreated by William and Kate after she became a royal member, telling his brother that Kate should be 'friendlier'. Bower wrote:

'Members of their family, said Harry, were not showing her [Meghan] sufficient support, respect, or friendship. Meghan, Harry believed, should be just as appreciated as their mother [Princess Diana].'

The much-anticipated book, which hit the shelf on July 21, 2022, gave readers a glimpse into the royal life of Harry and Meghan before they left for the US, dropping several bombshells about the Duke and Duchess' untold secrets.

Read more:

⋙ New book on Royal Family reveals shocking truths that Meghan Markle 'will be dreading'

⋙ Kate and William won't meet up with the Sussexes during their upcoming royal tour of the U.S