There’s been gossip for several years about Taylor Swift and the Duchess of Sussex. The gossip: “is there a beef between the two women?” I remember years ago, when “sources” claimed that Meghan invited Taylor to appear on her Archetypes podcast and Taylor turned her down. This year, the rumor got reheated into “Meghan invited Taylor on Confessions of a Female Founder, but Taylor said no.” I have no idea if those stories were true, but Taylor obviously avoided any and all pod interviews until recently, when she made her pod debut on New Heights. There’s another layer to the beef rumors: Taylor has made a point of cozying up to Prince William a few times over the years, including last year, when William took Charlotte and George to one of Taylor’s Eras concerts in London. Now, there were also rumors that Meghan went to an Eras concert in 2023 (but there were no photos, and I’ve never been sure about that story).
Just a few weeks ago, there was some buzz about a new undercover back-and-forth between Meghan and Taylor. Taylor announced her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, on August 12. The day before, the Sussexes made the splashy announcement that they had signed a new deal with Netflix. There were rumors that Meghan was “mad” that Taylor’s album news overshadowed the contract news. But again, I didn’t really believe it, so I didn’t cover it or really want to engage with the rumor. Which brings me to this week… on Tuesday, Meghan’s WLM Season 2 dropped, as did a new product launch for As Ever. Hours later, Taylor announced her engagement. Coincidence or conspiracy??
Here’s the thing… when I first saw the Taylor news, I did think “wow, Taylor really stole Meghan’s thunder, huh?” It’s not like August 26th – a Tuesday, for the love of God – is even some high holy day in Swift World, right? We don’t know when Travis proposed (his dad said it happened around two weeks ago), so it’s possible that there’s no hidden agenda as to the timing of the announcement, and Taylor truly has no reason to care about stepping on anyone else’s newscycle. But still…Taylor could have announced this at any time… why in the middle of a Tuesday in the last week of August? It’s so random, and we’re so used to decoding Swiftian Easter eggs. What if the biggest Easter egg is that Taylor hates Meghan’s guts??? LMAO.
Anyway, on a pleasant note, Meghan did “like” Taylor’s engagement Instagram post. So did the Prince and Princess of Wales. The Daily Mail noted that Taylor announced this on Meghan’s big day too, and they also made a point of noting that Taylor wore Ralph Lauren in the engagement photos. You know, Ralph Lauren is famously one of Meghan’s favorite labels. *adjusts Swiftian conspiracist tinfoil hat*
Meghan liked Taylor Swifts engagement announcement ❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/eJfwQrlWgu
— Anne – Duchess Of Success (@TheDuchessZone) August 26, 2025
Photos courtesy of Taylor’s Instagram, Kensington Royal’s social media and Netflix.
Creating the stories like they usually do. Glad Meghan liked her insta post. She won’t have the Swifties on her back about this so called feud. Expect the Wales’ to tweet to Taylor to trump the like. 😏
These 2 women do not think about each other. Meg probably saw the news and decided to like the instagram post because she is a nice person who is capable of being happy for others. Even if she doesn’t really know them.
And i doubt Taylor thought to post the pictures simply because WLM S2 premiered, if she even knew about that.
Yup. This feud is not happening.
Right?? Like this is so not a thing in the US like it is for the BRF, like I’m sure there’s coordination with big names in the same field but stepping on someone’s news cycle is just a dumb idea to paint them as catty. What a reach.
Taylor is excited about her engagement. Full stop. They released their garden photo shoot a week 1/2 after he proposed. Nothing to see here. The brit press is bizarre
As Freud said, “Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar”.
Honestly, *every*single*celebrity*does*not*have*access*to*each*other’s*calendars, NOR DO THEY REALLY CARE who or what is going down on any given day! (Yes, I *know* movies try not the drop on the same day, but not quite the same thing). Seems the only childishly petty Left Behinds care about “stealing thunder”. Ok, and maybe your jealous cousin ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The rest of the world lives their lives, make announcements, celebrate joy/sadness/etc with those close to them (and yes, their fans if it applies)… and it’s NOT to grind glass in anyone else’s news.
My God, it’s like living in a perpetual Junior High mode with some people!
These stories would never appear if Taylor hadn’t been kind enough to pose with William and two of his children at her concert. I like Taylor, I like Meghan any idea that either of them thought about any of this is just silly. The real question is “Did Princess Kate lighten up her hair to a blonde to compete with Taylor after William and her children posed with her last year?”
Taylor would have eaten Lazy for breakfast. I mean, on the work ethic alone Lazy is an ornamental wannabe trad wife whereas Taylor – like Meghan – is a hardworking accomplished woman.
Taylor would have NEVER waited 10 years for a ring. Like, hello? She would have excoriated Willy after six months. Lazy should listen to “All too well.”
But didn’t she date Joe Alwyn for…..6 years or something? (thats about as much as i know about her dating history. that and matty healy.)
that said…..I 100% thought Kate’s new hair color was to match Taylor’s, lolol.
Not a Swiftie but the only thing I can remember from her Joe period was that YouTube clip of her appearing in a UK show singing about how much she loved London and going out with his uni friends LOL
https://youtu.be/UO0N7j9yI10
I also thought she had a thing for non-American men after she got dumped by Jake Gyllenhaal so her dating Travis was a big return to American men.
First Gwyneth Paltrow now Taylor Swift (eye roll) their obsession with pitting White women against Meghan continues. At least with Gwyneth they didn’t know what the relationship was but its ridiculous with Taylor because you can see Meghan liking her engagement pic on IG.
Additionally this thing about “overshadowing” is a royal worry stone and doesn’t even apply because you can like a TSWFIT post, buy As Ever products, and watch and episode of WLM all in the same hour. Its not like they’re dropped competing albums and are fighting for 1st place on the charts. The conspiracies the rota create really highlight how small minded and unintelligent they are.
I concur.
Taylor is SO BIG that no matter what she does, other people are going to be effected as the day’s news-cycle wraps around Taylor related news. It will always be someone.
The press loves to say she’s releasing things on top of other artists to disrupt their numbers, etc.
Sounds exhausting. Taylor’s at home mastering funfetti sourdough for the littlest Kelces.
Now, it did effect my Duchess watching schedule because i originally intended to watch the Duchess podcast at lunch, and the first ep or 2 of With Love last night.
But it was Taylor and threads for me most of the day.
I did get my orange marmalade order in (man, i hope we get raspberry back at some point- my jar is empty!!!)
But this is just the money making press finding new ways to put the Duchess’ name in their paper and feed them outrate storylines.
And who is a better “enemy” than the most famous popstar in the western world.
Looking forward to getting in all my Duchess content over the next few days.
Wait wait wait, orange marmalade??? So was this actually a homage to TS “The Life of Showgirl “??
Kidding…..
Two successful women can coexist without pitting them against each other
I really don’t see this as anything more than just two people existing who have things to announce or promote. Neither have anything to do with the other and people can care or support one or the other or both however they like.
I totally agree.
I may take flak for this, but I’ve always gotten a bit of a shiver from Taylor Swift insofar as she presents as a bit of fluff — hear me sing about my boyfriends, in her mid-30s, in songs that sound like they were written by a teenager — and yet, she is clearly the prow of a mighty battleship in terms of market share and commercial ballast. It’s very calculated. The solidarity she seems to cultivate with “the sisterhood” seems ….twee and opportunistic. I always thought that the best route to feminism was owning your emotions as an individual, or maybe the best route to owning your experience is through feminism, the perspective that comes from a collective frame of reference. Swift’s brand of feminism feels like a marketing gimmick. She’s going to marry a football player and before that she was hooking up with the guy from The 1975. It’s pretty clichéd. ….also? I cannot identify her music when I hear it on the radio. It sounds like everything else. Background noise. Just my two cents. Let the backlash begin!!!!
I don’t disagree with you really at all, but I advise you to run for cover 🤣🤣🤣🤣
She’s totally gonna be the Shiv Roy in this marriage.
I love when people have heard a song she wrote as a teenager and nothing else and kept that misogynistic narrative alive that she is writing poor me and picking on the men folk and sounds childish.
Try listening to her music before commenting, and all song writers right about their lives, it’s ok for men and every other female singer to do but not Taylor?
OMG!! The delusion is real!
It sure is.. talk about creating a narrative out of nothing.
To answer the question if the timing of this suggests a beef with Meghan – no. lmao. i don’t think this had anything to do with Meghan, at all.
I do think Taylor cozies up to the royals (I mean her line about the patriarchy is interesting when you put it side by side with her taking a selfie with….the epitome of the patriarchy) but that’s as much as I think we know.
Maybe she’s not a fan of meghan’s, maybe she’s team wales (which would say a lot about her…) and maybe she just doesn’t care besides wanting to be on the good side of the future king of england for some reason.
I can believe that M asked her to be on Archetypes and that she said no without there being hard feelings. I don’t think she would have asked her to be on COAFF though – that just didn’t seem like the podcast venue for Taylor.
and don’t ask about the date. my threads is full of swifties with some really out there explanations and theories about the date.
I think if she had done other podcasts but chose to not to one with Meghan that might be an issue but she made it a point to not do one until she did the one with Travis and Jason. And she was in control of that podcast and what gets aired, which is not something that would happen for any other podcast.
This seems like the Gwynneth thing. A made up fight between visible women.
I honestly feel like Taylor is on a whole another level of wealth and celebrity that she wouldn’t care about stuff like this.
same — this whole connection feels really forced.
I think we’re missing the key thing for timing here – football! It starts a week tomorrow.
If she didn’t announce the engagement now, it would happen during football season. They probably wanted to avoid that and all it would entail, and Meghan’s WLM launch got caught in the crossfire. All good, Meghan will be fine and I absolutely don’t think there’s a feud between the two women lmao.
Isn’t it Travis’s last year of playing? After her tour, she may be happy to be a football WAG this season like that MAGAT Mahomes airhead.
I called this yesterday!
I think a lot of people missed that the engagement announcement came 13 days after her New Heights appearance.
Huh. Well, that yeah sounds like a lucky number thing.
Quoting HRH Meghan, Duchess of Sussex: “A rising tide lifts all boats.”
I thought yesterday was great. WLM Season 2; As Ever new drop; Taylor + Travis engagement.
What a day of good news!
Oh good lord, how long are we going to continue to encourage this worn out narrative of pitting women against each other?! If anyone does/says anything to purposely “overshadow” someone else’s good news, then that’s on them and tells me all that I need to know but please, for the love of god, stop encouraging this narrative.
+1. It’s two American women being successful in different fields. It sounds like a Murdoch tabloidy angle, let’s pit them against each other.
Only derangers would think that Taylor Swift sat down and noted a lifestyle show’s second season premiere, so she can announce the world she is engaged 😭😭 Taylor has a history of petty behavior, but to people who wronged her in her eyes. Her being friendly with BRF is what is beneficial for her brand. I said here before, Taylor wouldn’t be caught socializing with H&M and swifties yelled at me. Being friendly with H&M come with attacks from media and powerful people / institutions. Taylor won’t let anyone around her with no benefit to her brand.
Somehow, I hardly think Taylor was thinking about Meghan at all in this.
Most likely Taylor is done releasing variants and wanted to announce it in between that and football season starting. She’s had website countdowns since her album announcement off and on and I think the last one was Monday, and I’m sure she wants to wear her ring and announce it on her own vs it being spotted when she’s WAG-ing.
I don’t think Taylor cares much at all about the royals beyond being willing to do a photo op and post it because she’s literally in London, playing at Wembley Stadium – like it’s just very British and the average person is like future kings and London, cool pic to post that goes with the milestone of however many nights at Wembley. Also, the only podcast she’s ever done is her now fiancés to announce an album. I think she would have been an excellent fit for Archetypes but the timing of that was prob not great and I think she was still in her very private era then.
It was more than a photo-op. She also congratulated Will’s birthday and both PR teams collaborated on the timing of the posts. Taylor doesn’t do things like that on her socials, she kept them mostly business, so it came across as a support for Will. I don’t think she cares about royals either. But, she would care about the power they have in UK and on media.
It’s so odd to try and make something out of 2 people existing and doing things at the same time.
I don’t think that I have read about it much except in
connection to the British royal family.
So they can whine all they like about how Meghan is not royal, but they surely treat her like one! 🤔
Of course the tabloids are trying to pit these two women against each other. Both Meghan and Taylor have the same kind of people who criticize them. They both were wealthy before meeting their partners and both are women’s moves are watched and documented on a ridiculous scale.
The tabloids are so thirsty and pathetic.
I saw this coming after the news of T&T engagement hit the headlines. I thought- the media are going to run stories about how T&T stole Meghan’s Netflix thunder because they are pathetic and lack imagination with their news stories. This is all imagined and with no verification whatsoever. These women are living their best lives with their supportive men. Incredibly sad the media will continue to pitt women against each other especially when there’s nothing to be seen here.
Lastly, being seen with Kate, Will et al doesn’t always mean one is cosy with them or particularly friends. Sometimes, it’s just that- work and a photo opportunity.
I do not think there was a deliberate anything. Honestly does everything have to be a fight?
Two women having their happiness pitted against each other? What kind of a world do YOU live in if you subscribe to this thinking?
I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. TS turned down all podcasts, so it wasn’t just MM’s.
Guys, I’m a certified nutcase Swiftie so allow me to explain: on the song The Prophecy, Taylor sings about never quite getting the eternal life-changing love that she’s always longed for and begging the sky to “Please, let it once be me. Change the prophecy. Don’t want money, just someone who wants my company.” This song is track 26 on The Tortured Poets Department album. So the theory is that she took two weeks to bask in the joy of the engagement privately with Travis and their loved ones, and then announced it to the world on the 26th day that indeed the prophecy has been changed and for once, it IS her that “caught lightning in a bottle”! Taylor is a master with numbers and meaningful dates, usually around her life and her music. I guarantee you she is not thinking about Meg and a Netflix show when making the decision to announce this one of the most consequential pieces of news in her life.
On a positive note, someone on X pointed out that the Taylor engagement news got in the way of the press going after Meghan’s show in their usual irrational way. I seriously doubt that Taylor Swift thought about Meghan’s show starting.