Kate Middleton‘s former stylist, Natasha Archer, departed her position at the palace after 15 years of working with the Prince and Princess of Wales. Now, a social media move is stirring up some interesting conversations, per People.
Archer recently decided to take her Instagram page public after years of keeping her personal life off the radar. Now that she’s launching a new private consultancy business, she decided to make her page public, which meant her follow list also became open to anyone on the platform.
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Internet sleuths spotted curious clues that Archer watched Meghan Markle‘s pages very carefully, including her As Ever brand, What Meghan Wore, makeup artist Daniel Martin, and even the Duchess of Sussex’s bestie and Suits co-star Abigail Spencer. It’s what palace expert Amanda Matta described as “old-school, fun royal fashion drama” on her TikTok account.
The Duchess of Cambridge’s PA and Stylist Natasha Archer carries items of luggage as she arrives at Tezpur Airport on April 12, 2016 in Assam, India.
Dominic Lipinski – Pool/Getty Images.
That is, until Archer started “clearing house” so that there was no affiliation to Meghan. Matta noted that some Kate critics find it to be the “smoking gun” that “Kensington Palace was taking style cues from Meghan” after she joined the royal family. Kate has definitely elevated her fashion in the last few years, and perhaps Archer found some of Meghan’s monochromatic, clean-line choices to also be fitting silhouettes for the Princess of Wales.
The Daily Mail credited Archer for taking Kate from the “girl-next-door” to a “stylish” princess in 2014. “Natasha and Kate get on very well. She has always supported and advised Kate – and the Duchess loves Natasha’s style, so it seemed like an obvious appointment,” a source told the media outlet over a decade ago. “Natasha has been helping Kate pick outfits for the tour.”
No matter what the Princess of Wales wore, it always made headlines and created sellouts for designers — it was dubbed the “Kate Effect.” When Meghan joined the royal ranks, the press often pitted the women’s style against each other, but they were two women with different fashion choices. Kate was more traditional while the Duchess of Sussex preferred contemporary, sleek designs — and they’ve both taken fashion cues from each other when they were at the palace.
The social media discovery feels like a “gotcha” moment to some royal critics, but it’s likely more of a realization that fashion inspo comes from many different places, including the Duchess of Sussex.
Before you go, click here to see Meghan Markle’s best post-royal fashion moments below!
