Claim 1: Meghan made a “brutal claim” about Catherine.
In the 2022 Netflix series, Meghan described a casual dinner from nearly a decade ago. She said she answered the door barefoot in ripped jeans and went in for a hug. She said she hadn’t realised many British people find hugging awkward, and that the formality she saw in public carried on in private.
That is the whole claim: one woman, no shoes, one awkward hug.
Verdict: WILDLY OVERSTATED. If that’s brutal, the word needs a lie down.
Claim 2: Harriet Phillips debunked it.
Harriet told Hello! that Catherine is open-hearted and that she would feel comfortable asking her for advice. She said they first met on holiday, with the children all jumping into the water together.
What she didn’t say was anything about Meghan. She doesn’t mention her once. The debunking was carried out entirely by the Express, on her behalf, without her apparent involvement.
Even the photo caption, two lines under the headline, retreats to say Harriet only seems to have debunked it. The article downgrades its own headline before the first paragraph.
Verdict: NOT A DEBUNK. Two people having different experiences of the same person, years apart and in different settings, is generally known as life.
Claim 3: Harriet’s account is the “direct opposite” of Meghan’s.
Harriet sums up the relationship as relaxed, but with “a clear level of respect.” Meghan said there was formality, even in private. Harriet says there is a clear level of respect, even on holiday. These are not opposites. They are close cousins who’d be seated at the same table at a wedding.
Verdict: CLOSER THAN ADVERTISED.
Claim 4: Meghan said Catherine finds hugging jarring.
She didn’t. She said hugging was jarring for a lot of British people, which is a remark about a nation, not a diagnosis of her sister-in-law. The article quotes her accurately a few paragraphs earlier, then misquotes her at the end.
Verdict: CONTRADICTED BY THE ARTICLE’S OWN QUOTE.
Claim 5: Catherine herself debunks Meghan by shaking hands with the public and hugging when requested.
A handshake is the most formal greeting available short of a curtsy. And hugging when requested means hugging on application. That is precisely the opposite of a natural hugger.
The Express has gone looking for evidence against Meghan’s claim and returned with a fairly good description of it.
Verdict: SUPPORTS THE CLAIM IT SET OUT TO DEBUNK.
Claim 6: “Many people over the years” have said the princess is very warm.
Which people? Unnamed. That may well be true. It also isn’t evidence of anything in particular.
Verdict: UNSOURCED, AND BESIDE THE POINT.
Bonus claim: Harry and Meghan “must be raging.”
So says the related link beneath the article, about something else entirely.
Verdict: UNABLE TO VERIFY. Neither, we suspect, could the Express.
OVERALL RATING
Here’s what actually happened. A new member of the Royal Family gave a gracious interview about feeling welcome. That is a pleasant story, and on its own a perfectly good one.
The Express read it and found no mention of Meghan Markle. So it added one, called her four-year-old anecdote about a hug “brutal,” and called the whole thing a debunking.
The only claim in this article that has been convincingly debunked is the headline.
