According to one of her friends, at least, Kate Middleton is actually a big hugger—contrary to what you might have heard. This is, of course, another response to the Sussexes’ Netflix docuseries.
Of all the details Meghan Markle dropped in Harry & Meghan, one of the least surprising and most innocuous was the claim that Meghan’s American propensity for hugging was perhaps a bit off-putting to her extremely British future in-laws when they first met. “Like I was a hugger, always been a hugger,” the Duchess of Sussex said in the doc. “I didn’t realize that that is really jarring for a lot of Brits. I guess I started to understand really quickly that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside.”
I didn’t read it this way, but it seems like someone from the Princess of Wales’ circle interpreted this as Meghan calling Kate cold. “Kate’s a big hugger,” a friend of the princess told People. “She is warm and friendly and greets everyone with a big hug and kiss. It comes naturally to her to be like that.” As if to prove the point, video of William and Kate giving relatives two-armed embraces at a Christmas Carol Concert at Westminster Abbey was published in Hello! on December 12.
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I’m sure Kate is perfectly ready to hug and kiss friends and family, but I thought the fact that a big, introductory hug is socially acceptable among Americans but frowned upon by Brits was kind of common knowledge. Very British newspapers such as The Guardian have published satirical articles on the subject. The Daily Mail has written up a study on this particular cultural trait. Plus, Meghan Markle’s hugging being a problem for the royal institution has been covered before in The New York Times—she reportedly refused to stop hugging palace guards when advised against it. “She literally said, ‘I’m American. I hug,’” a friend said.
I guess what I’m saying is Kate Middleton may be a “hugger” among friends. But she’s no American.
