Kate, Meghan's fake smiles at Wimbledon reveal trouble in paradise

Six years ago, during the Wimbledon championships, Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton appeared friendly as they attended the SW19 event. 

Under the world's watchful eye, the then Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Sussex laughed and joked together while sharing their love for tennis. Many believed this marked the beginning of a blossoming friendship, but, as time has shown, that was not the case. 

Earlier this year, Prince Harry's controversial autobiography shed light on the dynamic between his wife and sister-in-law. He recounted several instances where Meghan seemed to be at odds with Kate during the early days of their relationship, including a request from Kate for an apology after Meghan referred to her as having "baby brain" following the birth of Prince Louis. 

While Kate and Meghan smiled and enjoyed the event, body language expert Judi James noted that, by that time, underlying tensions were evident—not in what they did, but in what they didn’t do.

"Their first visit to Wimbledon came at a time when expectations were still running high that these two women might be best friends," Judi told The Mirror of their 2018 debut.

"What we saw from their body language then was a display of politeness that didn't totally suggest close friendship bonds. Kate looked like a well-mannered host and Meghan appeared to enjoy her company but there were few if any convincing signals of anything more intimate.

"As early-days rituals though it did seem to leave the door part-way open in terms of relationship-forming. The laughter looked shared and authentic but there was no real consequent relaxing of posture or increase in tie-signs or eye-checking signals to suggest these were the first stages in a growing friendship."

The following year brought yet another friendly outing at the tennis, this time with Meghan sandwiched between Kate and her little sister Pippa - and Judi says there were clear indications of trouble in paradise, especially given the complete lack of friendship signals you would expect to see 12 months on.

"By the time of the second visit there did appear to be some subtle signs of potential tension from Kate, who seems to have taken a more ‘adult’ stance," Judi continued.

"Kate was still very much the polite and friendly host but it is pretty obvious the bonding signals were showing no signs to hint of any growing or matured levels of closeness or rapport behind the scenes.

"The two women laughed together and even turned together to chat to someone behind them but as they turned back their smiles seemed to drop at about the same time. By now you could expect to see more exchanged glances, mirroring and more softening of the facial expressions when they talked to one another but there were no signs of any progression along those lines.

"Meghan had been placed in between Kate and her sister Pippa which looked like a signal of family unity, but it did seem to show up how Meghan tended to mirror Pippa more than Kate and to relax a little more while she was talking to her.

"Neither of these women would produce any active signals of dislike or unfriendliness but it’s the lack of any progression of friendship signals that seemed to imply their relationship had stalled, despite efforts to put on a show of unity in public.

"Both must have been aware that their husbands were struggling with their rift and this would have made it even more difficult."