Kate Middleton has offered a rare, candid glimpse into the pressures of royal life during a Buckingham Palace reception on April 21, honoring what would have been Queen Elizabeth II’s 100th birthday. Speaking to a small group of women at the event in Marble Hall, the Princess of Wales admitted that she struggles with the scale and noise of large royal gatherings.
The 44-year-old princess, speaking in fan footage shared on X, said, “I find these environments are really hard. I’ve also got a very soft voice, so I always get told, ‘Speak up a bit louder!'”
What began as a quietly relatable admission about her own vulnerability quickly prompted online comparisons to her estranged sister-in-law, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Prince Harry and Meghan stepped back as senior working royals in January 2020 CBS News and subsequently moved to California. Since then, the couple have spoken about their difficulties navigating life in the royal spotlight.
In March 2021, Harry and Meghan sat for a two-hour primetime interview with Oprah Winfrey, during which they said they often felt their concerns went unheard within the institution. During the interview, Meghan also addressed tabloid reports that she had made Kate cry in the days before the 2018 royal wedding, flatly denying the claim.
“The reverse happened,” Meghan told Winfrey, as Access Hollywood reports, saying it was Kate who was upset over the flower girl dresses and that Kate later apologized and brought her flowers and a note. The account remains disputed; a 2022 biography by Tom Bower alleged that it was, in fact, Meghan who reduced Kate to tears.
Meghan also faced sustained criticism from some royal supporters who blamed her for straining the relationship between her husband and his brother, Prince William. Harry pushed back on that narrative during a January 2023 interview with CBS correspondent Anderson Cooper, conducted in connection with his memoir, Spare.
“There has been a lot of pain between the two of us, especially the last six years,” Harry said, adding that the book “squashes this idea that somehow my wife was the one [who] destroyed the relationship between these two brothers.”
Kate’s candid comment drew a mixed reaction on social media. On X, one user wrote: “She is so desperately in need of elocution lessons, it’s not even funny. It would sort out her weird cut crystal voice and provide breathing exercises for projection. These things are not hard but require daily exercises. She purports to be some kind of athlete, so let’s go.”
Another wrote: “Are there no public speaking courses in the U.K.? [Kate] has been with William for what, 20-plus years now?” A third posted: “After 15 years, she still doesn’t know how to speak to the public she represents — an embarrassment.”
Others used the moment to draw comparisons to Meghan and the late Princess Diana.