Queen Elizabeth's private view of Meghan Markle has been revealedin fresh claims from royal authorRobert Hardman, who says palace insiders believed the late monarch came to see 'narcissistic behaviour' in the Duchess of Sussex after early efforts to help her settle into royal life were, in their words, 'torn up'.
Elizabeth II died in September 2022 and never publicly criticised Meghan or Prince Harry. Harry has repeatedly said his grandmother remained one of the few senior royals with whom he and Meghan always had a strong bond. The new claims come from Hardman's book Elizabeth II, which draws on unnamed figures from the Queen's inner circle, and from his appearance onNewsweek's The Royal Report podcast.
Hardman says the Queen's attitude towards Meghan began warmly. Speaking on The Royal Report, he said Elizabeth was 'actually delighted' by Harry's future wife and went out of her way to welcome her into royal life.
He pointed to the speed with which Meghan was brought into official duties. Hardman said old conventions about not inviting girlfriends or even fiancées to major royal events before marriage were set aside in her case. By December 2017, several months before the wedding,Meghan had already carried out her first official engagement.
The Queen also tried to give Meghan a secure place within the institution through carefully chosen patronages. Hardman highlighted the National Theatre as one of the clearest examples, given Meghan's background as an actor.
According to Hardman, those efforts were first embraced and then abandoned. 'These efforts were initially embraced by the [Sussexes] and then just sort of torn up,' he said on the podcast. In palace terms, the complaint was not simply that plans changed, but that a carefully prepared path had been rejected.
Hardman says that was when the mood around Meghan began to shift. What started as enthusiasm turned into frustration, and eventually, according to his sources, a belief that theQueen felt she had been let down by both Harry and Meghan.
In the book, Hardman quotes one senior insider as saying: 'The Queen had seen plenty of narcissists in her life.' He also said on the podcast that many around the monarch believed she thought Meghan was, by the end, showing 'narcissistic tendencies'.
Hardman was careful to note that Elizabeth was 'famously good at concealing her true thoughts'. That means the account rests not on the Queen's own words, but on the interpretations of aides and insiders who believed they understood her private feelings.
The most explosive part of Hardman's account comes in the shadow of Harry and Meghan's March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey. In that interview, Meghan said there had been 'concerns and conversations' within the royal household about how dark her unborn child's skin might be.
Source: International Business Times UK
