Meghan Markle caused quite a stir within the ranks of the British royal family the moment she started dating Prince Harry. From being a divorced, biracial, American actress to not wearing the right clothes or behaving in the supposedly correct manner, Markle just seemed to rub the royals the wrong way.
However, the opinions of his extended family didn’t seem to faze Prince Harry, who married Markle and had a child with her before moving to Los Angeles to start a new life in what was soon cleverly dubbed Megxit.
The couple’s decision to step down from their official royal duties rocked the family, as well as the press on both sides of the Atlantic. Rumors continue to circulate about what really transpired to make Harry and Meghan leave England for America.
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However, it now seems that if certain people had had their way, the entire ordeal could have been avoided, because Prince Harry wouldn’t have married Markle in the first place. “What that does internally is probably really damaging.” The tell-all book Royals at War: The Untold Story of Harry and Meghan’s Shocking Split with the House of Windsor claims that almost immediately after Harry started dating the Suits actress in 2016.
Prince William allegedly asked his brother, “Is she the right one?” Prince Harry apparently didn’t take kindly to his brother questioning his budding romance and, according to sources close to the family, it was the beginning of the end for their formerly close relationship.
As royal expert Katie Nicholl explained in the documentary Princesses At War, “William was quite concerned that the relationship had moved so quickly.” William’s wife, Kate Middleton, also allegedly warned Harry to take things slowly, and according to the authors of Royals at War, she reminded him, “He was dating someone with a completely different life, past, and career, and it would take time, care, and attention for them to integrate.”
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But the happy couple got engaged the very next year, with both Middleton and Prince William wishing them well in the press and expressing a desire to get to know Markle better. When it came to Harry’s almost instant connection to Markle, insiders revealed in Royals at War, “[Harry was drawn to Meghan’s] confidence, commitment, drive, and ambition.”
Prince Harry may have been sure about Markle from the beginning, but Prince Philip warned him that marrying her would be a mistake for a shockingly snobby reason. According to a report in The Sunday Times, Philip allegedly told his grandson, “One steps out with actresses, one doesn’t marry them.”
Markle was a well-regarded actress, having appeared in Suits for seven seasons, while also featuring in a number of movies, prior to marrying Prince Harry. Prince Philip is widely known to have a very close relationship with his grandson, so the comment no doubt wounded Prince Harry, though sources suggest that the Duke of Sussex stood up for Markle whenever anyone questioned their relationship.
The Times report also alleged that an unnamed member of the royal family suggested that Markle’s marriage to Harry would only last for three years, which seems pretty brutal. “And then we were really by ourselves.”
Nigel Cawthorne, author of Prince Andrew, Epstein, and the Palace revealed that, in his view, Prince Charles wasn’t Markle’s biggest fan either, precisely because of her allegedly strong, a no-nonsense personality that seemed to rankle other family members. When it came to Charles’ alleged opinion on Markle, Cawthorne explained to The Sun, “There’s only room for one strong royal woman, the Queen…I think [Prince Charles] likes strong women, but in The Firm, there is only room for one Queen…I think he foresaw considerable problems ahead.”
Prince Charles was allegedly concerned about the amount of press attention being drawn by Prince Harry and his new wife. According to Cawthorne, “Harry and Meghan amplified the popularity of the Royal Family in the way that Prince Andrew and Fergie did at the time.”
In reality, though, Prince Charles had to offer his support to the new couple just like everyone else, as there wasn’t much he could do to stop them from tying the knot. Still, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex left their senior positions within the family less than two years after marrying, officially ending royal duties on March 31, 2020. Needless to say, their decision to leave sent shock-waves through the British monarchy, and the world.