Their names are Kate and Megan.
One is a modest, pitch-perfect stickler for the rules, perennially at her husband’s side and never putting a foot wrong. The other has a cheeky, naughty side and adores a designer frock and an expensive holiday almost as much as she does having a camera there to capture every moment.
No, I’m not talking about those two, but a couple of namesakes who are playing out parallel story at the World Cup: Kate Kane, wife of captain Harry, and Megan Pickford, other half of goalkeeper Jordan.
They are the longest-serving England partners, veterans of three World Cups, and indisputably the WAG queen bees. But their tactics are very different.
‘Kate is the first lady of the WAGs,’ says my snitch in the gang. ‘She takes the role very seriously. She’s a big support to the others and is able to show how the role is done. She doesn’t put her head above the parapet for the sake of it.
‘Megan, on the other hand, is loving the limelight. She’s a right laugh, a lot less serious and does the WAG thing her way.
‘She’s out there for all to see and loves to enjoy herself. She’s been at the forefront of the girls-on-tour gang who have been loving their time cheering on their partners.’
Sources tell me that while many of them, including Megan, Olly Watkins’ wife Ellie, Jude Bellingham’s girlfriend Ashlyn Castro and Tolami Benson, Buyako Saka’s partner, have been immersing themselves in the WAG lifestyle in the US, Kate, 32, prefers to stay at home at the family’s £30 million mansion in Germany, where her husband has just completed his third season with Bayern Munich.
Kate Kane, wife of England captain Harry Kane, is said to be ‘first lady of the WAGs’
Kate, who is apparently a ‘little stricter’ than the other WAGs, is pictured celebrating while watching England vs DR Congo on July 1
Jordan Pickford’s glamorous wife Megan, is allegedly ‘loving the limelight’ of the World Cup
While she jetted to Dallas to watch Harry score twice in England’s 4-2 win against Croatia in their opening game, she left the children – Ivy, nine, Vivienne, eight, Louis, six, and two-year-old Henry – at home, as she didn’t want the older children to miss school or for Henry to miss his bedtime.
Nor were any flashy outfits on show during the 24 hours she was in town. She was seen in a classy, but plain, dark denim dress with an understated black £2,000 Chanel crossbody phone case bag.
She also flew in for the game against Panama last Saturday – again without the children.
But Kate couldn’t resist breaking the school-night rules on Monday, when all four were there to watch their heroic dad score twice to take England through the first knockout round against DR Congo.
Her presence in the stands was again muted, in a silver/grey co-ord set by label Totem – a snip, by WAG standards, at £1,000. Harry melted hearts as he was reunited with his children after three weeks and joyfully lifted Henry into the air for a kiss, watched over by an adoring Kate.
‘Kate is on the stricter side of things,’ says a source. ‘She has young children who needed to be at school so she decided to fly in and out for the individual matches. She didn’t want to join the circus. The kids had to watch at home.
‘She knows she’s not cool, she isn’t a party animal. Like Harry, she’s a pro.’
Back in Germany, where the family have been since Harry’s move from Tottenham at the end of 2023, I’m told that Kate’s approach to WAG life is similarly low-key.
Kate and Harry (pictured) are childhood sweethearts and grew up together in Chingford in Essex
The Kanes were spotted in traditional outfits enjoying Oktoberfest last year, and she is popular on the school-mum circuit.
Kate has posted on Instagram: ‘Since moving to Munich we’ve loved being part of the culture and traditions of the club and Bavaria, made us feel so at home.’
Harry and Kate are childhood sweethearts, having grown up just streets apart in Chingford, in Essex, and attended school together.
They even visited David Beckham’s now defunct football academy in Stratford, East London, in 2005 as star-struck 12-year-olds.
Living in a hilltop mansion in Grünwald – ‘the Beverly Hills of Bavaria’ – the children are learning German, which is ‘very important’ to Kate, I’m told. She and Harry are also giving it a go, though are not as fluent as their offspring.
They also enjoy regular skiing trips and golfing holidays – while the children love football as much as their father.
Things are different for Megan and Jordan’s three children, Arlo, seven, Ostara, two, and one-year-old Misty. Arlo has been the envy of all his classmates back in Cheshire, as he accompanied his mother on their tour of the US.
They flew out in June, long before schools break up, but only after Megan had enjoyed a day shopping at Selfridges to ensure her wardrobe was perfect.
Megan is undoubtedly the archetypal WAG, writes Katie Hind
Megan and Everton goalkeeper Jordan married in June 2022 and share three children together
She entrusted a personal shopper to curate a collection of designer clothes and bags, determined to recreate the iconic WAG culture that woke up the sleepy German town of Baden Baden 20 years ago.
However, she was dealt a huge blow when her suitcase was lost on route to Dallas.
Arlo has enjoyed a holiday of a lifetime. Staying in a £3,000-a-night suite at the Ritz-Carlton, New York, the children have been treated to trips to the Jellycat Diner, Barbie shop and the Build-A-Bear Workshop.
Last week, his mother took him to see Harry Potter And The Cursed Child on Broadway, while there was also time for some important learning, with a visit to the 9/11 Museum.
‘Megan likes to go big,’ says a source. ‘She and Jordan didn’t have a lot growing up, so they take the view that they are going to take every opportunity to have a great time and treat their kids to what they didn’t have.’
We have also seen Megan’s colourful style at the matches. While she opted for a replica England shirt for the DR Congo game, to cheer Jordan on against Ghana she wore a £125 Club L white mini dress teamed with a £6,000 Hermes mini Kelly bag, which adhered to the US stadium’s strict bag size policy, and a vintage 1980s brooch.
Megan has also been seen with a £2,500 Lady Dior handbag. ‘Megan has made no secret of wanting to recreate Baden Baden,’ says an insider. ‘She’s doing her best.’
Megan is undoubtedly the archetypal WAG. After meeting Jordan at St Robert of Newminster Catholic School in Sunderland when she was 14 and he 15, they moved to Cheshire in 2019 when he signed for Everton.
They bought a modern five-bedroom mansion with a home cinema and bar close to the footballers’ wives capital, Alderley Edge. She hangs around with Jack Grealish’s fiancee Sasha Attwood and Harry Maguire’s wife Fern.
‘Megan has WAG written all over her,’ says a source. ‘The absolute antithesis to Kate.’
She adores a good holiday, and she and Jordan were pictured on eight in 2018, when they visited Portugal, Barbados, Milan and Ibiza twice, as well as Dubai and the Bahamas. In Barbados, Megan was pictured necking champagne at the exclusive Sandy Lane resort, while a romantic break to the Bahamas in July 2017 set them back £2,500 a night.
They also chartered a private jet for a weekend in London for the Anthony Joshua fight in April that year, costing at least £10,000. And her hen do in 2022 was at the Nikki Beach Resort in Dubai, where villas cost up to £7,700 a night.
There is, however, one vital difference between this Kate and Megan and their royal counterparts: Mrs Kane and Mrs Pickford absolutely adore each other.
‘They recognise they are very different from one another,’ says a source. ‘There is a bond there, they have both watched their husbands go through so much.
‘Kate might not want to party like Megan does but she enjoys watching it all… from a distance.’
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