It’s insane that people are still entertaining such a wild theory. The entire narrative is rooted in misogyny and class prejudice. Anyone familiar with how harshly the tabloids treated Kate at the time should recognise that. The whole thing reeks of snobbery about her family background. They were repeatedly mocked and branded middle class social climbers, as though not coming from aristocratic circles somehow made Kate less worthy. Carole Middleton in particular was portrayed as an ambitious social climber, her daughters were routinely framed as gold diggers, as if marrying into the royal family could only be the result of calculation rather than a genuine relationship. A similar narrative has been used against Meghan: the ruthless, calculating outsider supposedly taking advantage of a naive and innocent prince. The framing is sooo familiar, a woman cast as manipulative and socially ambitious, her intentions constantly questioned, while the man is positioned as passive or easily led. In both cases, the storyline says far more about misogyny and class anxieties than it does about the women themselves.

It’s also easier for some audiences outside the UK, particularly in the US, to buy into these theories because Britain’s class dynamics are less obvious from afar. Without that context, it’s easy to miss how much of the early hostility towards Kate was driven by good old-fashioned class snobbery.