Prince Harry's pre-wedding tensions with Queen revealed as 'Meghan Markle's sincerity questioned'
Over seven years on from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's marital union, fresh allegations have emerged about strains prior to their wedding ceremony.
While it is common knowledge that the lead-up to their May 2018 wedding faced choppy waters, particularly with Meghan's father withdrawing from attending at the eleventh hour, a Royal biographer has now unveiled claims that tensions ran higher than previously thought.
According to the author, behind the scenes, Prince Harry had allegedly caused the late Queen Elizabeth II to feel 'dismayed' by certain elements of the wedding plans, even suggesting that he nearly jeopardised his relationship with his grandmother.
Royal author Sally Bedell Smith alleges that she was informed by the now-deceased Lady Elizabeth Anson – a party planner with high society links and the Queen's cousin – that the Queen harboured "very worried" feelings regarding her grandson. The veracity of Meghan's intentions also came under scrutiny, reports the Mirror.
The comments attributed to Lady Anson, who passed away in 2020, refer to events that unfolded over seven years ago. However, even as time has marched on since Harry and Meghan exchanged vows, Jennie Bond, ex-BBC Royal correspondent, relayed to the Mirror that Meghan recently appeared to revisit these past incidents first.
Jennie Bond conveyed her thoughts: "There have been too many reports about tensions in the weeks running up to Harry and Meghan's marriage to discount them. I think the old saying 'there's no smoke without fire' holds true."
"Lady Elizabeth Anson was certainly a very well-connected and informed source for these latest reports, which suggest that the Queen felt Harry was rushing into a marriage too quickly.
"Worse than that, it seems the Queen and other members of the Royal family doubted Meghan's sincerity and found her very difficult to deal with.
"It's extremely sad to think that the situation also soured the late Queen's relationship with her very much loved grandson, Harry: a young man she had nurtured and guided through the very worst time of his life, the death of his mother.
"Is it fair that all this is being brought up so many years later? Maybe not, but then perhaps Meghan shouldn't allude to lies being told about her eight years ago, which she did in a recent podcast.
"The fact is the royal story is always a source of curiosity and will sell books and papers, especially when there is a whiff of discord or scandal."
One bombshell claim made in Bedell-Smith's Substack is that the former monarch had been left shocked that Harry had asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to perform the wedding ceremony without asking the Dean of Windsor first and that the now Duke of Sussex thought his grandmother could just "do what she wants".
According to Bedell Smith, Lady Anson revealed that Harry had "blown" his relationship with the Queen.
Several months before the wedding, Lady Anson recounted to her: "She [the Queen] said she was really upset. I was shocked when the Queen told me this, how she was so saddened. I had no idea about the conversation, that he was rude to her for ten minutes.
"They had tea with her the day before yesterday. She was trying to find out about the wedding dress, and Meghan wouldn't tell her."
However, closer to the wedding day, Bedell Smith claims Lady Anson informed her that Harry and the Queen had "patched things up" after he shared details of the upcoming wedding with her. Bedell Smith recounts Lady Anson describing Harry as "besotted and weak about women."
Jennie now believes these claims indicate a significant change in Harry's character. She commented: "It does seem quite out of character for Harry to disrespect his grandmother and, if he did, it is a sorry reflection of how his relationship changed him.
"He always claimed they had something special, and that she could confide in him in a way she did not with other family members. He suggested he was in some way her protector...making sure 'she had the right people around her.'".
"The late Queen was meticulous about including both Harry and Meghan in statements she made about the situation and made it clear she would always regard them as part of the family. Whether she would still feel quite so magnanimous today is something we shall never know. I just hope Harry now feels it was all worth it."
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