To the naked eye, the Crown Princess of Great Britain's attire for this week's Commonwealth Day celebrations would appear daring: a navy jacquard Erdem skirt suit with matching navy wide-brimmed Philip Treacy hat, navy Gianvito Rossi heels, and sapphire and diamond drop earrings. According to the magazine, Kate "tends not to choose a more fashion-forward wardrobe for such formal occasions," preferring old standbys like Alexander McQueen, Emilia Wickstead, and Catherine Walker. Kate has worn Erdem many times in the past, and as if to acknowledge the close relationship between the princess and this fashion brand, the look she wore this week is pre-fall and not available for purchase until at least August of this year.

But if the headlines are to be believed, the choice of Erdem for the Commonwealth Day ceremony is even bolder than it first appears." Was Kate's Commonwealth outfit a casual shot at Meghan?" The Daily Mail asks." Kate Middleton has disrespected Meghan Markle by wearing a designer that disrespected the Duchess of Sussex," declares OK, while the Mirror's headline on the matter is "Kate and Meghan's shared love of designers has caused tension as one takes precedence over the other." It goes on to say that Kate's choice of Erdem for the Westminster Abbey service was no coincidence, as it was Meghan Markle's last service as an active member of the royal family three years ago, making fun of her sister-in-law. It's probably not that deep of a story, if you ask the author, but it is an interesting one: the British fashion brand has become, as the Daily Express put it, "a pawn in Princess Kate and Meghan's 'feud'."

Even before she met Prince Harry in the summer of 2016, Princess Meghan (then an actress on "Suits") favored the fashion brand. According to the Daily Mail, she wore a dress from the 2015 collection before its general release when she appeared on "The Today Show" in early 2016, and wore the brand again in March 2017 at a wedding in Jamaica that she attended with Harry (again, an item before its general release). (Princess Meghan filmed "Suits" in Toronto and has always felt a special connection to Canada.) However, Princess Meghan, who married into the royal family in May 2018, rarely wore the brand after that, despite her obvious affinity for it. The reason for this" is that Kate also loved Erdem, and because she was higher in the royal hierarchy than Meghan, Kate always took precedence and was given priority by the label. Erdem is a relatively rare brand to which both women gravitate; Kate, for example, chose the designer for public strolls like the 2019 Chelsea Flower Show and for an official dinner at the British ambassador's residence in Sweden in 2018. Kate wore Erdem back in 2005, when she first joined the royal family back in 2011, when she was touring Canada a few months after her April wedding that year.

"It is not only diplomacy but also business for the royals to rub shoulders with British designers, as Kate has done with Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney," the Daily Express reported.

"By making their support for British brands public, the royals can build their careers in the fashion world and enrich their companies' finances.

Erdem's microcosm is just one branch of a very large tree of the "heir and his reserve" dynamic that runs not only through Princes William and Harry, but also their wives, and apparently did not sit well with Princess Meghan. According to the Daily Mail, Meghan is said to have said that the then Duchess of Cambridge was "not even a queen" in that Kate got first choice of clothes. "

"When Princess Meghan joined the royal family, it is claimed that Kate was given priority, even though they were both longtime customers and Meghan appeared to have some connection with the brand," the Daily Express reported. Including Erdem, which was "one of Princess Meghan's absolute favorites," the Telegraph reported, "Kate always seemed to get designer priority. The magazine reported that Meghan was furious when Kate first received the brand's latest designs, a move that was "the worst" for her, and the Mirror claimed that "their shared affection for the designer may have been one of the factors causing tension early in their relationship It is alleged," and reported that "things turned cold when Meghan found herself behind Kate in the queue for the designer's latest outfit."

The well-known Erdem debacle is about clothes, but it is about much more than clothes. In his new book, Gilded Youth: As Marie Claire recently reported, author Tom Quinn writes that Princess Meghan always hated being second best. One former palace official said that Meghan was "shocked" that she could never be "number one in the pecking order."

"She didn't want to play second fiddle to Catherine Middleton. For example, she thought she was going to live at Windsor Castle and couldn't believe it when she and Harry ended up at Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace." Her husband Harry, who became famous (among other things) for writing about his own experience of always being second best in his bestseller "Spare," certainly felt the same way about Duchess Meghan.

And while both Kate and Princess Meghan adore the brand, Princess Eugenie, Princess Beatrice, and Sophie, now the Duchess of Edinburgh, also wear its designs. So, the ultimate question surrounding this week: was Kate's choice of attire an indictment of Princess Meghan?" in the opinion of the author, probably not, but this is a continuation of the conversation about the royal hierarchy, which even goes to the clothes worn on the backs of members of the family.