Marrying a prince is supposed to be a fairy tale. The British royal family shows it’s anything but.

But, unlike fairy tales, their stories didn’t end after the dream wedding.

“There’s the beauty, the celebration, the joy, the happiness,” Maria Tatar, a Harvard professor of folklore and fairy tales, told BI. “And then bang — you’re back to once upon a time, and all the terrible things that happen in once upon a time.”In his 2023 book “Endgame,” royal expert Omid Scobie wrote that William and Kate were instructed to emulate Diana in public whenever possible, and staffers went to great lengths to style both Kate and Meghan in outfits that looked like hers.

While the princes were hailed for foregoing blue-blooded brides, Kate and Meghan’s upbringings were also used against them. As Kate became a fixture of the tabloids, so did the narrative that she had always set her sights on marrying up. The rags were happy to discuss how she and her sister Pippa were known as the “Wisteria Sisters,” climbing the social ladder as fast as the invasive plant.