Kate Middleton believed it 'wasn't too late' to pull Harry and Meghan back until their Oprah interview

Kate Middleton was hopeful of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's return as working royals even a year after their exit, until they went public with their feud in a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey.

After Harry and Meghan announced their resignation as senior royals in January 2020, a statement released by Buckingham Palace on behalf of the Queen noted that they will always be "much loved members of the royal family." Kate had also taken the same approach towards the issue and hoped that her brother-in-law and sister-in-law would eventually return to the royal fold, according to a report in the Telegraph's Stella magazine.

The newspaper's royal expert Camilla Tominey wrote: "I have been reliably informed she was even telling her friends before the Oprah interview that she did not think it was too late to pull them back in," reports The Mirror.

However, Kate realised that it was never going to happen once the Sussexes went all out against the monarchy in their sit-down interview in March, in which they alleged that Meghan was denied proper help when she was struggling with suicidal thoughts and that an unnamed senior royal asked questions about Archie's skin tone.

According to Kate's uncle Gary Goldsmith, the Duchess of Cambridge is a "brilliant arbiter and peacemaker" and is trying to end the feud between her husband Prince William and his brother Harry despite the latter's recent controversial interviews. "If anyone can bring peace to the royals, Kate can. Every bone in her body is about making friends and doing the best she can... she's trying to mediate," Goldsmith told Closer magazine about his niece.

The Duchess of Cambridge was recently applauded by royal experts for facilitating a conversation between her husband and her brother-in-law at their grandfather Prince Philip's funeral. Tominey writes that Kate has become a huge support for William as he deals with his brother's allegations against the British monarchy, which the Duke of Cambridge is expected to lead one day.

"It seems an unexpected consequence of the family conflict has been to help William and Kate find equilibrium in their own marriage. What started out as an uneven match between a blue-blooded prince and his 'plus one' has now blossomed into a two-peas-in-a-pod kind of partnership," the royal expert wrote.