Meghan Markle and Princess Diana "Both Wanted Something from the Queen They Didn't Get," Royal Expert Says

• According to many royal experts, Queen Elizabeth II (opens in new tab) is not one to talk much about her feelings. Royal biographer Matthew Dennison (opens in new tab) says the Queen also "doesn't encourage others to talk about their feelings either."
• This, it seems, could have led to two of the Queen's in-laws, Princess Diana and Meghan Markle, having similar issues in their relationships with her.
• Dennison says that, ultimately, "both women wanted something from the Queen that they didn’t get."

Queen Elizabeth (opens in new tab) has a tough job—and the hardest part can be balancing the interests of the Crown with issues of her personal life. Of course, this isn't news to anyone who has seen Netflix's The Crown, but royal expert Matthew Dennison, author of The Queen: An Elegant New Biography of Her Majesty Elizabeth II (opens in new tab), has offered some new insights into the Queen's relationships with Princess Diana (opens in new tab) and Meghan Markle (opens in new tab).

"The Queen doesn’t talk about her own feelings and she doesn’t encourage others to talk about their feelings either," Dennison explained, according to The Mirror (opens in new tab).

This closed off approach to discussing emotions may have left both Diana and Meghan (opens in new tab) feeling unable to connect with the Queen in the ways they wanted to, Dennison suggested.

"Diana had meeting after meeting with the Queen, who ultimately felt it was the same conversation happening over and over again. Diana never forgot who her mother-in-law was and that provided a barrier that was not of the Queen’s making," he explained. "I don’t know if Meghan was overawed in that sense because Meghan was a grown woman with experience of life when she joined the royal family whereas Diana was a young girl. But I think both women wanted something from the Queen that they didn’t get."