King Charles Is Apparently Paying Close Attention to Everything Meghan Markle Says About Him, Royal Family

“There is only so much the new king will tolerate of Meghan cashing in.”

King Charles, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry
(Image credit: Getty)

Wonder if this makes it to the red boxes of correspondence? According to OK, King Charles is likely “made aware of every keynote interview” daughter-in-law Meghan Markle takes part in, even though she isn’t a working member of the royal family anymore. This extends to his son, Prince Harry, as well, with a royal expert saying “he will be watching.”

“Charles’ modus operandi has been to pretty much try and ignore any stuff that’s written and said about him,” Duncan Larcombe says. “But, on Meghan, I would be very, very surprised if he weren’t being made aware of every kind of keynote interview and commercial stuff, because they have to.”

Last week, Meghan made the cover of Variety for a wide-ranging interview, and it’s likely that Charles’ staff briefed him about what she said.

“It’s the royal family brand,” Larcombe says. “It is a fact Meghan is trading on the brand that King Charles is now very much in charge of. So, yes, he will be watching. It will be far more in a business sense. He won’t want her to be saying things that could be damaging to the reputations of the royal family and, in particular, things that, in his opinion, are utterly untrue and unfair.”

It's not really personal, it’s business, the expert says: “It’s not because he wants to go and cry and feel sad, and he’ll go and dig in the garden to make himself feel better,” he says. “It’s a practical thing. The business of the family has to be protected, and there is only so much the new king will tolerate of Meghan cashing in. It’s good to see perhaps that she’s reining back on what was beginning to look like an attack again, another offensive, in the wake of the Queen’s death.”

Marie Claire reported that Harry and Meghan are reportedly softening the Charles content in both Harry’s upcoming memoir and the couple’s forthcoming Netflix docuseries. A source speaking to Radar, per OK, says that, if actions like this aren’t taken, there could be consequences.

“The king has issued a firm warning to Harry that if he rats him out in any way in the book, Harry’s whole family will be stripped of their titles,” the source says. “And he’ll be cut off from royal life for good. Charles has gone into severe crisis-management mode. He knows that Harry holds the key to a closet full of dark secrets. It goes way deeper than simply Harry calling Charles on TV a bad father.”

Rachel Burchfield
Contributing Royal Editor

Rachel Burchfield is a writer whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family. In addition to serving as the royal editor at Marie Claire, she has worked with publications like Vogue, Vanity Fair, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, and more. She cohosts Podcast Royal, a show that provides candid commentary on the biggest royal family headlines and offers segments on fashion, beauty, health and wellness, and lifestyle.