The Queen Was "Rather Pleased" Meghan Markle Didn't Come to Prince Philip's Funeral, Royal Biographer Says
Their relationship was complicated.
Recently, royal biographer Gyles Brandreth revealed that the late Queen was concerned about how in love Prince Harry was with his wife Meghan Markle.
As a result, fellow royal biographer Tom Bower was asked to comment on whether he believes this dynamic to be true.
"My sources told me very emphatically that they believe this to be absolutely true that the Queen was very disgruntled with Meghan," Bower told GB News (via Express).
"That, of course, is why she expelled them so to speak in the great Megxit debate and sending them in 2020 when they were stripped of all their honorary and other titles in Britain, denied any protection, denied any finance and told they couldn't serve as royals if they went to California."
"Expelled" feels like rather a strong word to me, considering it was the Duke and Duchess of Sussex' idea to leave in the first place, but it is true that they wanted to remain more involved than they were allowed to be in the end.
"So, I don't think for a moment that the Queen was uncritical of Meghan," Bower continued.
"In fact, she was rather pleased that she hadn't come to Prince Philip's funeral."
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Again, "pleased" feels like an exaggeration—perhaps "relieved" is more fitting, if the Queen wanted the day to be focused on her late husband rather than on any Sussex drama, which seems likely.
"But I do believe that she was critical and rather concerned by Harry's over-the-top admiration and love for Meghan," Bower added.
"And of course she wasn't the only one. So was Prince William, so was Prince Charles, so was Charles Spencer.
"Everyone thought Harry had gone overboard."
This comes after Brandreth wrote, slightly more generously, in his new book Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait, "The only concern the Queen let slip in the early days of the Sussexes’ marriage was to wonder to a friend if Harry wasn’t ‘perhaps a little over-in-love.
"This was as far as she came—to my knowledge at least—to ever uttering a word against the new Duchess of Sussex."
Once again, here's hoping they all figure out this whole rift situation sooner rather than later, now that the Queen sadly isn't here to smooth things over.
Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.