What to Know
Kate Middleton and Prince William started dating in their college years, but it wasn’t until 2010 — nearly a decade after they first met — that he finally popped the question. At the time, the tabloids were pretty relentless, some even nicknaming her “Waity Katie” because of how long the couple were dating before they got engaged.
And though it’s been a minute since Meghan Markle brought up that nickname during an interview, her words are coming back to haunt her, and the debate around the situation has been reignited once again.
Tabloids gave Kate the nickname while she and William were still dating.
At the time, multiple outlets including the Daily Mail, were calling her “Waity Katie” for how long Kate seemed to be willing to wait for William to ask her to marry him — and the fact that she didn’t appear to be working on a career of her own in the meantime.
Meghan brought it up years later, and now, her words are going viral all over again.
@prinnywales meghan markle oab “waity katie” as if that era dosent solo her LMAOOOO. this is so random lol can you tell i gave up at the end #foryou#katemiddleton#meghanmarkle#princessofwales#viral ♬ original sound – 𝜗𝜚˚⋆ nawel 💁♀️
Of course, once Will and Kate were engaged, the nickname faded away… but Meghan brought it back up again during her infamous sit down interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, and the audio from that interview is being used in the TikTok above that’s now going viral.
While speaking about the negative ways she’d been treated by the press since marrying Prince Harry, Meghan said, “Kate was called Waity Katie, waiting to marry William. While I imagine that was really hard, and I do, I can’t picture what that felt like, this is not the same.”
In the TikTok, the audio is put together with clips of Kate during the “Waity Katie” period of her life, when she was frequently caught on camera by paparazzi (and seemed to be having a lot of fun).
People are now taking sides.
The comments on the video are kind of a mess, with some people claiming that Meghan shouldn’t be faulted for simply stating the truth.
“Being called Waity Katie is not the same thing as being referred to as disgusting racial slurs. That is what Meghan was referring to,” one commenter clarified.
Plenty of others were ready to defend Kate, though. “Talking about it like it wasn’t the most iconic era babe jealousy shows,” one said, while another added, “There’s no comparison between the two, Queen Catherine in in another league.”
If this debate hasn’t died by now, it seems like it’s probably going to be going on forever. Strap in!
