The Queen is set to be criticised in a new book about the royal family which also claims Prince William has a "terrible temper" and labels Meghan Markle as "self-pitying".
Robert Lacey's Battle of Brothers focuses on the difficulties in Princes William and Harry's relationship, but also sheds light on Meghan Markle's time in The Firm.
He claims the brothers' fallout is a lot worse than many people believe, and warns that if it can't be healed it will be one of the "traumas" that historians look back on and say changed the royal family forever.
He writes that the whole modern royalty was built on the assumption that William and Harry would stick together, but Meghan joining the royal family has changed this.
He writes: "What you’ve got to realise is that the whole strategy of the monarchy was based on them sticking together. Meghan changed all that. She is difficult. She has an incredible and dangerous level of self-belief.
"But the Palace got this very wrong, as it always does with the second-born. They always treat the second-born badly, not to say cruelly. It happened with Princess Margaret. It happened with Prince Andrew. It’s the classic heir and the spare thing. They just don’t know what to do with the spare. And they certainly didn’t know what to do with the spare’s wife."
Many members of the royal family face criticism in the book, with Lacey portraying Meghan and Harry as self-pitying and having an "astonishing level of entitlement", reports the Daily Mail, who will serialise the book next week.
He also says that Harry is hurt and looks to Meghan for an escape.
He writes that Harry, who is sixth in line to the throne, has chosen to find a "new destiny" with Meghan after realising "there was something rotten at the heart of royelness that is not for him."
William is accused of having a terrible temper but is praised for his commitment to royal values.
Not even the Queen escapes criticism, and Princess Diana is described as an ‘anti-royal’.
