15 February 2024 , 10:49
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Prince Harry greatly upset the late Queen, with a 'cruel act', a new book has revealed.
While grandmother and grandson had previously enjoyed a close relationship, the late monarch found she couldn't condone his behaviour which had put her in an impossible position, according to a renowned royal biographer.
Writing in her new book, My Mother and I, Ingrid Seward delves into Prince Harry's public fall-out with his family - and his "anger" at the British monarchy.
"He had discovered a way of making himself the centre of attention and that was by dissing his family, about whom he felt increasingly bitter," Ingrid writes. While his fall-out with his brother was one thing, perhaps not uncommon amongst siblings, "the anger aimed at the British monarchy, his father and step-mother, was totally unnecessary".
"His anger eventually destroyed his credibility in other areas of his life, and his grandmother, the late Queen, found herself in an impossible position. However much she loved Harry - and she did - she couldn't condone the way he was speaking about the institution of the monarchy that she had spent 70 years preserving."
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According to the author, Lady Elizabeth Anson - a cousin and intimate friend of the Queen, who would speak to her on the phone on a daily basis - further confirmed that Harry's attitude had "upset his grandmother".
Elsewhere in the book, Lady Anson also reveals how the Queen felt about Harry and Meghan's romance - "'Too in love' was her response to Prince Harry being under his future wife's spell," she says.
The book further states that the late had a coded nickname for Meghan Markle - 'DoW' - because she reminded him so much of Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor.
Harry and American actress Meghan met back in 2016, with the couple getting engaged in 2017 before their televised royal wedding took place on May 19, 2018. But Meghan's marriage to Harry wasn't her first, with her already having been wed once before.
The book claims that because Meghan is American and a divorcee, Philip thought it was "uncanny" how much she reminded him of the Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson, who married Edward VIII and supported him abdicating as King.
Edward VIII was the late Queen's uncle, who famously abdicated in 1936 to marry the American divorcee. This then meant that the Queen's father, George VI, succeeded the throne, with a young Elizabeth next in line.
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