New Book Claims Meghan Markle Rebuffed Camilla’s Advice on Marrying into the Royal Family

Meghan Markle and Camilla, Queen Consort

(Image credit: Getty)

published 25 September 2022

The experience of marrying into the royal family—especially as a woman marrying into the royal family—is a unique one, and one that can only be understood by a handful of people.

According to a new book about Camilla, Queen Consort, royal expert Angela Levin writes that the then Duchess of Cornwall tried to give Meghan Markle a “warm” welcome when she married into the family, but that it “fell flat”—the Duchess of Sussex was unresponsive to Camilla’s advice, Levin says.

In Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall: A Royal Survivor, Levin quotes a royal insider as saying “she [Camilla] doesn’t want to see anyone struggling, and she is fond of Meghan,” the source says of Camilla’s first few times reaching out to Meghan ahead of the latter’s 2018 wedding to Prince Harry, per OK. (Camilla, of course, knows all too well what it’s like to face backlash from the public and the press from her own relationship with the now King Charles III.)

Camilla apparently told Meghan that the Duchess of Sussex seemed “bored” about her life and the royal family’s welcoming approaches, noting that it seemed as though Meghan “preferred to go her own way” as she carved out her position within The Firm (the name for the working core of the royal family).

Levin writes that Meghan’s reputation within The Firm was initially strong, and Camilla recognized Meghan as a “hard worker.” Charles, for his part, “enjoyed” Meghan’s company, Levin writes, as both shared an interest in the theater and performing arts. (In case somehow you’ve forgotten, Meghan was an actress on the hit television show Suits prior to her marriage to Harry.) Charles even touchingly walked his new daughter-in-law partway down the aisle at St. George’s Chapel, as her own father, Thomas Markle, backed out of attending at the last minute.

Since then, obviously, much has transpired, and Marie Claire reported yesterday that Meghan sought a one-on-one meeting with Charles last week before she and Harry departed for the U.S., where their children, Archie and Lilibet, were waiting for them to return from the U.K. and the Queen’s funeral. It is unclear whether that meeting ever happened—or what Camilla and Meghan's relationship is like today.

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.