Royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith has revealed a key moment that supposedly caused a rift in Prince Harry’s relationship with Queen Elizabeth II.
Just months before his 2018 wedding to Meghan Markle. According to Smith, the late Queen, who died in 2022 at 96, felt deeply left out of her grandson’s wedding plans. This sense of exclusion led to a tense meeting in February 2018.
During this important discussion about the upcoming wedding, Prince Harry, then 33, was said to have been “rude to his grandmother for ten minutes”, according to Page Six. This reported disrespect upset the Queen, who was worried about the Duke of Sussex, believing he seemed too lovesick and indecisive. The tension reportedly went beyond personal clashes and included disagreements over wedding planning and ceremony details.
Queen Elizabeth was said to be unhappy that Prince Harry asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to lead the wedding service at St. George’s Chapel without first getting approval from the Dean of Windsor. This break from royal tradition annoyed the Queen, who valued proper procedure. Another issue was Meghan Markle’s reported unwillingness to share details of her wedding dress before walking down the aisle, which also bothered the monarch.
Queen Elizabeth was right to worry before Harry’s wedding
The lack of smooth teamwork among them added to the Queen’s worries about the royal family’s unity and public image. Smith’s information about these pre-wedding tensions reportedly came from a phone call in February 2019 with Lady Elizabeth Anson, a cousin of the late Queen. During this talk, Anson shared her thoughts on Meghan Markle, questioning how genuine her feelings for Harry were and suggesting she might have been acting strategically.
Anson said there was uncertainty about whether Meghan truly loved Harry. She also claimed Queen Elizabeth had not yet made up her mind about Meghan at the time, showing a cautious approach. These reported comments from a family member suggest there were early doubts within the royal circle about Meghan and Harry’s relationship.
So it was obvious Meghan engineered the whole thing!
— Mere, Duchess of Sussex (@Mere36437759) June 30, 2025
How Harry and Meghan left the late Queen 'very upset' in the run up to their wedding as rows that 'blew the Prince's relationship with his grandmother' are revealed for the first time | Daily Mail Online https://t.co/CWyA8WsUtj
Despite the reported strain before the wedding, Prince Harry and Queen Elizabeth supposedly reconciled in April 2018, just a month before the ceremony. The exact details of how they made up are unknown, but it suggests an effort to ease tensions before the big day. However, the weeks leading up to the May 2018 wedding were said to have more conflicts.
Biographer Katie Nicholl, in her book The New Royals, described an incident where Meghan Markle reportedly argued with a wedding caterer over a dish that didn’t fit her vegan or macrobiotic diet. The disagreement was serious enough that Queen Elizabeth reportedly stepped in, scolding Meghan and saying that kind of behavior was not acceptable in the royal household. Elizabeth was right to worry; now the royal family is divided, and Meghan and Harry cannot stay out of the news for their behavior.
