When Prince William and Prince Harry both fell in love it was inevitable their other halves would start being compared to one another. Two princes fell for non-royal young women of the exact same age – so fans love to ponder, ‘Who has risen to the royal role the best?’ It’s a basic human response.
When Meghan arrived into the embrace of the Royal Family, clearly she would have been watching Catherine and seeing how she held herself together – and tried to copy her. It’s natural. She would have thought: “This lot with their castles and wealth are an intimidating lot – how does Kate handle it?”
So when the Princess of Wales recently completed the 23-mile Three Peaks Challenge in less than 24 hours to raise funds for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, it does not take a rocket scientist to realise someone would dig around to see if Meghan – who is the same age at 44 – has done a similary grelling task.
And boy did they hit the jackpot!
During the Sussexes’ Netflix show ‘Harry and Meghan’, they aired a video of Meghan on a 2022 hiking trip with Harry where she is struggling to climb down a hillside.
The Duchess is seen sliding down the hill on her bum, using her hands for support while Harry can be heard saying: “She’s happy to go up the hill, but hates going down the hill.”
Meghan then replied: “We don’t have that much [further] to go,” before the Duke showed the distance down the trail.
That old video has now gone viral on social media, alongside Catherine’s more exhausting, charitable achievement where she climbed the highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales within a single day: Ben Nevis (1,345 metres), Scafell Pike (978 metres) and Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) at 1,085 metres.
It hasn’t helped Meghan’s cause in looking a bit pathetic that during Catherine’s gruelling mountain marathon she had time to at each ascent chat to an 11-year-old paraplegic boy called Ted who was going up the same three peaks at the same time.
Meghan and her prince – Harry (Image: Getty)
Ted, from Sutton Coldfield, was pushed and carried in his wheelchair by his father, Pete, and 15 other members of his family and friends while fundraising for the children’s charity Molly Ollys.
On each mountain, the group met the Princess, who chatted with Ted, asked how he was doing, and has since donated to Ted’s fundraiser.
Ted later said Catherine was “amazing and incredible”.
Meanwhile, Meghan is sliding down a hill on her bum.
On social media one royal fan drew comparisons between Meghan and Kate saying: “Thank goodness she never attempted the national three peak climb with Princess Catherine… she’d still be there.”
Another one admitted: “This is the only observation I have. I once was terrified of heights and had to take cognitive therapy to remove the phobia. I once did this same butt crawl down a high hill in a national park. The difference: I didn’t post my weakness online thinking it made me adorable.”
One person put it perfectly on social media: “Catherine is out there climbing mountains – in more ways than one – while Meghan Markle is seen sliding down one on her bottom. Kind of symbolic of their respective lives, wouldn’t you agree?”
Yes comparisons can sometimes be cruel – but they can also be quite telling too.