Queen Elizabeth II Felt ‘Left Out’ of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Wedding Planning, Biographer Claims

Prince Harry and Queen Elizabeth II’s deep bond took a hit in the days leading up to his wedding to wife Meghan Markle in 2018, royal author Sally Bedell Smith claimed.

On a Sunday, June 29, update to her Substack per Page Six, Bedell Smith said that Elizabeth felt “left out” of the wedding planning process and was reportedly upset that Meghan, 43, had refused to share any details about her wedding dress.

After Harry, 40, was “rude” to her during a meeting, the biographer wrote that the queen became “very worried” about her grandson – who Bedell Smith described as “besotted and weak.”

Bedell Smith also suggested that Elizabeth — who passed away at 96 years old in September 2022 — “was dismayed that Harry had asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to perform the wedding service in St. George’s Chapel without first requesting permission from the Dean of Windsor.”

One of the late queen’s first cousins, Lady Elizabeth Anson, also previously told Bedell Smith that the “jury was still out” on whether the queen even liked Meghan.

The former actress’ reportedly tense moments with Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton, didn’t help matters. Bedell Smith claimed Queen Elizabeth was unhappy that they were “not working well together” prior to the wedding.

Meghan and Kate, 43, were specifically rumored to have argued over the dress Princess Charlotte was meant to wear to the lavish event.

“Wives do change the dynamic, and they both have very strong wives,” a royal insider told People of Kate and Meghan’s up and down relationship. “If you bring two independent-minded women from the real world into the royal world, they are going to want to have an impact.”

Even after Harry and Meghan made the decision to step away from their royal duties to move to the United States in 2020, rumors of rising tensions between the Sussexes and certain members of the royal family continued to swirl.

Unfortunately, those relationships could be difficult to repair now that Harry feels unsafe returning to the U.K. with Meghan and their kids, Archie, 6, and Lilibet, 4.

As Star previously reported, Harry was embroiled in a years-long legal case over the loss of his publicly-funded security after leaving his royal duties. In May, Harry told BBC News he was “devastated” when he lost the case.

“I thought with all the disagreements and all of the chaos that’s happening, the one thing that I could rely on is my family keeping me safe,” he explained to the outlet after the official decision. “Not only did they decide to remove my security in the U.K., but they also signaled to every single government around the world not to protect us.”