Meghan Markle showed she was "confident and independent" and certainly not a "blushing bride" with a four-word reply to Prince Charles which caught him off guard.
With the Duchesses' May 2018 wedding to Prince Harry looming, Meghan's father Thomas not attending and no invite for air force veteran uncle Michael, the Prince of Wales offered to walk her down the aisle of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
Her reply was not quite what he expected: "Can we meet halfway?", she asked, according to a new biography of The Queen by Robert Hardman, serialised on MailOnline.
The response "was an indicator that this was no blushing bride, but a confident, independent woman determined to make a grand entrance on her own", the author notes.
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Ahead of the Royal wedding the signs were very positive, the couple were excited about their role in the context of the Commonwealth.
The fact The Queen appointed Harry as her Commonwealth Youth ambassador and that bride-to-be Meghan accompanied him to the 2018 Commonwealth Youth Summit was proof of the confidence which she had in them both.
A month later, as Meghan walked down the aisle her 16ft veil included hand-stitched detail depicting the flowers of every Commonwealth nation in homage to The Queen's Coronation gown.
Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, had flown from California and was the only member of her family present.
Thomas did not attend saying he wanted to spare the couple any embarrassment after an incident which saw him pose for paparazzi pictures as he prepared for the big day.
It was unclear why Michael, a US air force veteran and diplomat who had once secured her an internship at the US embassy in Argentina, was not invited.
But, Mr Hardman adds, "the dynamics of her family certainly eclipsed the usual criticisms about the Royal Family being dysfunctional".
The book also reveals The Queen knew the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would not return to royal life as soon as she learned they had left with their dogs in tow.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stunned the world when they quit their royal duties in 2020, revealing they were starting a new life overseas.
Some around the corridors of Buckingham Palace expected them to one day return to the fold, but the 95-year-old monarch knew differently.
She told a visitor she did not expect them to resume royal life. When asked about a future return for the couple, she replied: “Of course not. They took the dogs.”
