The late Prince Philip was apparently less than impressed with his grandson, Prince Harry’s wedding to former TV star, Meghan Markle. In fact, according to a new memoir from former royal butler Grant Harrold, Philip couldn’t wait for the whole thing to be over.
Harrold’s upcoming book, The Royal Butler, is set to be released in September and will provide readers with a unique glimpse into the everyday life of the royals through the eyes of one of the family’s former butlers. An excerpt from Harrold’s book has been released ahead of the full book and details one particularly interesting and somewhat humorous response from Prince Philip upon the conclusion of Harry and Meghan’s wedding in 2018.
Harry was close with his grandfather and he recently paid tribute to him in secret at the VJ Day celebrations. despite the rocky relationship he had with the royals prior to his and Meghan’s exit.
What did Prince Philip say?
According to Harrold, after the wedding was over, the royal family filed out of the chapel. While many were no doubt trying their best to be polite and respectful, Philip, who was known for not exactly holding back on his thoughts, had a short four word response to the whole thing, “When Prince Philip came out, he turned to the Queen and said, ‘Thank f–k that’s over.’”
Judging by that response, it seems as though the Prince wasn’t exactly impressed with the ceremony and was eager for it to be done already. Philip’s response is both brutal and hilarious, particularly because it’s hard to imagine such a senior royal swearing in such a manner, but like the rest of us, royals are human too, and they can certainly make mistakes and be rude from time to time.
But did Philip’s statement really reflect how he felt about Harry and Meghan’s marriage overall? While many in and out of the royal family have a strong dislike of the Sussexes now, was this an early sign that there was tension between Harry, Meghan, and the rest of the royals? Or was this simply Philip being impatient and perhaps less invested in the ceremony than others?
What did the prince really think?
In a way, it seems as though Philip may have actually been more supportive of his grandson than any of the other royals. The prince stayed out of the Megxit drama back when Harry and Meghan decided to step away from royal duties and move to America. According to an article from The Sun, around that time, Philip thought Harry was a “good man” and he was also sympathetic to Harry’s desire to “do this own thing in his own way.”
When talking about the royal rift at the time, Philip responded, “I’ll soon be out of it and not before time.” That being said, he did have a few words to say about Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview before he passed, “Give TV interviews by all means, but don’t talk about yourself.”
