NEED TO KNOW
- Meghan’s Netflix holiday special air date has changed to December 3 – two days prior to Kate’s famous carol service.
- Sources say the timing shift is not coincidental.
- Prince William is reportedly furious at Meghan allegedly trying to one-up Kate.
Since 2021, the Princess of Wales’ Together At Christmas carol service has been held at Westminster Abbey in the first week of December.
This year’s event will take place on December 5 – a date that was confirmed by the Royal Foundation back in September.
This makes the Duchess of Sussex’s decision to move her Netflix Christmas special from the end of November to December 3 all the more puzzling.
“The whole world knew months ago when it was happening,” a royal insider tells New Idea.
Meghan, 44, originally flagged an earlier air date for With Love, Meghan Holiday Celebration when she was interviewed at an event in Washington in November. But just a few days later, the program’s premiere date suddenly changed.
“Meghan’s special was always earmarked to air in November, but post-production pushed it back into December,” our source says. “As far as Meghan is concerned, she’s just doing whatever Netflix wants as they’re the ones running the busy Christmas schedule.”
But our source adds, the timing shift isn’t quite as coincidental as all that.
“Meghan did want to have her show air before Kate’s event, which is why November was being talked about, but she pushed for it to ideally air as close to Together At Christmas as possible. That way, if there are any similarities in tone, it will seem like Kate is copying Meghan, not the other way around.”
Kate, meanwhile, hasn’t made any comment on the unfortunate clash of events with her estranged sister-in-law.
But the recent revelation that A-list stars, including Kate Winslet, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Hannah Waddingham, are participating in Together At Christmas, proves that the Princess Kate’s event will have some serious celebrity firepower attached to it. This year’s theme is ‘love in all its forms’.
“Kate would never try to one-up Meghan, but the facts speak for themselves,” our source adds.
Meghan’s special features guest appearances from tennis player Naomi Osaka and American chef Tom Colicchio.
While Kate, 43, is not focusing on Meghan’s program, her husband, the Prince of Wales, is not quite so forgiving.
“The clash of dates has annoyed Prince William,” our source says. “This isn’t the first time something like this has happened, and he just doesn’t understand why Meghan feels the need to ‘crash her car’ into Kate quite so often. Going up on anything, against the future Queen of England never ends well for her.”
As for Meghan’s own husband, the Duke of Sussex, our insider says Prince Harry “is exasperated”, adding, “This was an easily avoidable issue, but Meghan’s made it into a clash with Kate yet again”.
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