Meghan Markle and the Queen Got On Straight Away

widnes, united kingdom june 14 embargoed for publication in uk newspapers until 24 hours after create date and time meghan, duchess of sussex and queen elizabeth ii attend a ceremony to open the new mersey gateway bridge on june 14, 2018 in widnes, england meghan markle married prince harry last month to become the duchess of sussex and this is her first engagement with the queen during the visit the pair will open a road bridge in widnes and visit the storyhouse and town hall in chester photo by max mumbyindigogetty images

(Image credit: Samir Hussein)

published 12 August 2020

Meghan Markle and the Queen (opens in new tab) got on swimmingly as soon as they met, royal biographers Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand write in new Sussex biography Finding Freedom (opens in new tab).
Their first meeting ran over schedule by 10 minutes—a huge deal for the famously punctual Queen.
"The conversation flowed naturally" between the future Duchess and the monarch, Scobie and Durand write.

Meghan Markle and the Queen's close relationship has been widely reported on, so it's little surprise that their first official meeting was a roaring success, according to royal biographers Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand in new book Finding Freedom. In fact, they got on so well that the meeting ran 10 minutes over schedule, a rarity for the Queen.

As Hello! reports (opens in new tab), Scobie and Durand reveal that the future Duchess of Sussex officially met the Queen on October 12, 2017 (though they'd had a fleeting encounter earlier that year, when Meghan and Harry "literally bumped into her"). The meeting took place in the Queen's private apartments in Buckingham Palace. "Harry and Meghan rode the Queen's elevator—a stunning wrought-iron lift from the previous century—up to the monarch's private entrance," the royal correspondents write. "The inner sanctum of the Queen's private apartment was not at all what Meghan expected. Not that she really knew what to expect."

london, united kingdom july 10 embargoed for publication in uk newspapers until 24 hours after create date and time queen elizabeth ii and meghan, duchess of sussex watch a flypast to mark the centenary of the royal air force from the balcony of buckingham palace on july 10, 2018 in london, england the 100th birthday of the raf, which was founded on on 1 april 1918, was marked with a centenary parade with the presentation of a new queens colour and flypast of 100 aircraft over buckingham palace photo by max mumbyindigogetty images

"Harry kissed his grandmother on both cheeks as they walked into her sitting room. Meghan knew she needed to curtsy and had practised a dozen times before that day," Scobie and Durand continue. In reality, she had no need to worry: "The truth was that the sovereign was simply delighted for Harry."

The first sign that things would go well: The Queen's corgis, Candy and Vulcan, were immediate fans of Meghan (and a dog's judgment is second to none.) "As the dogs lay at her feet and wagged their tails, Meghan was also put at ease by the Queen, as warm and loving as Harry had told her his grandmother would be. The conversation flowed naturally before Meghan had to leave." Adorable!

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Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family

Emily Dixon is a British journalist who’s contributed to CNN, Teen Vogue, Time, Glamour, The Guardian, Wonderland, The Big Roundtable, Bust, and more, on everything from mental health to fashion to political activism to feminist zine collectives. She’s also a committed Beyoncé, Kacey Musgraves, and Tracee Ellis Ross fan, an enthusiastic but terrible ballet dancer, and a proud Geordie lass.