For the record, there was not a peep from Kensington Palace when the first round of quotes came out in Tatler. The first round claimed the Duchess of Cambridge is such a keen hard worker, she “works as hard as a top CEO,” and how dare Meghan and Harry throw three children to the wolves and make William and Kate pick up the Sussex slack! The Cambridges were fine with all of that. Almost as if they were expecting it. But then the full Tatler story came out and holy sh-t it landed with a gossip explosion. Suddenly, the palace released a denial: “This story contains a swathe of inaccuracies and false misrepresentations which were not put to Kensington Palace prior to publication.” So much for never complain, never explain, huh?

So, for the first denial, Tatler released a statement: “Tatler’s Editor-in-Chief Richard Dennen stands behind the reporting of Anna Pasternak and her sources. Kensington Palace knew we were running the ‘Catherine the Great’ cover months ago and we asked them to work together on it. The fact they are denying they ever knew is categorically false.” Which is still hilarious to me. So Bill and Cathy got their panties in an even bigger twist and ran to Vanity Fair, the Daily Mail’s Richard Kay, the Daily Mail’s Emily Andrews, and I assume some other outlets as well. Emily Andrews reported on Sunday that the Keens were threatening “legal action” against Tatler, and that they want the Tatler piece taken down from Tatler’s site (lol). The Cambridges sent a “legal letter.” And Tatler remains unmoved:

Society bible Tatler today dismissed a legal complaint by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in an ongoing row over a controversial article, saying it has ‘no merit’. Kate Middleton, 38, and Prince William, 37, may take legal action against the magazine after it published a ‘string of lies’ about the Duchess. In a highly unusual move, the couple have sent legal letters to the magazine demanding its profile of the Duchess – headlined ‘Catherine the Great’ – be removed from the internet.

It comes after Kensington Palace issued a fiercely critical statement on last week’s article which it said contained a ‘swathe of inaccuracies and false representations’.

Today Tatler hit back and released a statement that said: ‘We can confirm we have received correspondence from lawyers acting for the Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge and believe it has no merit.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I wish all gossip stories were this fun, OMG. I really hope everyone at Tatler is laughing as much as we are. Yes, Katie Keen, the Tatler peeps got your lawyer’s struggle letter and their lawyer says you’re full of sh-t. I’m shocked that Tatler’s spokesperson didn’t LAUGH ON THE RECORD and say something about closing the stable doors after the horses have bolted – the Tatler story has been online for a full week, and Cathy and Bill have no idea how the internet works. I’ve seen the theory that the Cambridges are trying to get Tatler to “reveal their sources,” but… um, again, the Cambridges really don’t understand how this works. If it ever got to the point where Tatler would, like, have to reveal their sources, that would mean it would be two years from now, after a lengthy court battle. The Keens don’t have the patience for that. Plus, they know who’s behind it.

Also: “In a highly unusual move, the couple have sent legal letters…” William threatens the press constantly. He does it at least twice a year. He just had an absolute fit about 13 months ago regarding the Rose Hanbury Affair stories. His lawyers – probably the same ones who sent this letter to Tatler – were threatening lawsuits and shutting down media outlets for weeks.

Photos courtesy of WENN & Avalon Red.