Meghan Markle was nervous about meeting her boyfriend Prince Harry’s brother Prince William but his opening line is said to have relaxed her.

Meghan’s first meeting with Prince William did not go as she had imagined (Image: Eddie Mulholland – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Meghan Markle wasn’t sure what to expect when she first met Prince William, fearing he would grill her with questions about her life and intentions but their encounter was far from what she anticipated.

However Prince William greeted her with open arms, as revealed in the book ‘Finding Freedom’ by royal experts Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand.

William’s welcoming words were: “I was looking forward to meeting the girl who has put that silly grin on my brother’s face.”

Despite the positive start, Meghan’s integration into royal life had its awkward moments, as she shared in the Netflix series ‘Harry and Meghan’.

Meghan recalled the first time she ever met William and Kate in the Sussexes’ Netflix documentary (Image: Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Image)

Recalling an early interaction with Kate Middleton, Meghan said: “When Will and Kate came over and I met her for the first time they came over for dinner.

“I remember I was in ripped jeans and I was barefoot. I’ve always been a hugger, I didn’t realise that that is really jarring for a lot of Brits.”

She quickly realised the stiff formality of royal life wasn’t just for public appearances but extended behind closed doors too.

Meghan expressed her surprise at this revelation: “I guess I started to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside.

“There is a forward-facing way of being, and then you close the door and go ‘You can relax now’, but that formality carries over on both sides. And that was surprising to me.”

Harry revealed more about the tension between the women in his life in his memoir ‘Spare’, recounting a dispute over bridesmaid dresses before his wedding that left Meghan in tears.

Meghan and Kate have a rocky relationship (Image: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)

He described how Kate ‘grimaced’ when Meghan used her lip gloss and mentioned an incident where Kate demanded an apology from Meghan after being accused of having ‘baby brain’ post Prince Louis’s birth.

The rift between William and Harry, which has become widely known, reportedly began around Christmas 2018 due to Harry’s perception that William was not welcoming Meghan into the family sufficiently.

Royal author Katie Nicholl commented: “Harry felt William wasn’t rolling out the red carpet for Meghan and told him so.”

Royal commentator Tom Quinn noted that William and Kate attempted to mend bridges by inviting Meghan and Harry to bring their children, Archie and Lilibet, to the UK after they had settled in California. However, Meghan declined the offer.

Regrettably, the royal rift appears to be persisting as an author spoke to the Mirror earlier this year saying: “The fallout has gone on far too long but both men are notoriously stubborn.”

They added: “William feels that the Royal family has been badly damaged by his brother and Harry feels that William has always treated him as an irrelevance.”