THE Queen and Prince Charles were left exasperated after Meghan resisted their demands to fix the crisis-hit relationship with her dad Thomas Markle, a major new book reveals.
Revenge: Meghan, Harry And The War Between The Windsors, by Tom Bower tells how senior royals held a conference call just weeks after Harry and Meghan’s wedding in May 2018 to try to persuade her to reconcile with her father.
Senior royals held a conference call just weeks after Harry and Meghan’s wedding in May 2018
Thomas, now 77, had spoken out saying he didn’t attend the wedding because he was embarrassed after staging paparazzi photos
The Queen and Prince Charles were left exasperated after Meghan resisted their demands to fix the crisis-hit relationship with her dad
Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsors by Tom Bower is out on 21st July
Thomas, now 77, had spoken out saying he didn’t attend the wedding because he was embarrassed after staging paparazzi photos.
This contradicted Meghan’s version of events that it was because he was too ill after suffering a heart attack.
The retired lighting director even slammed the “outdated” Royal Family in TV interviews, claiming he had no way of contacting his daughter and feared he would die without ever speaking to her again.
Biographer Bower writes that the reasons given by Meghan not to fly to his home in Mexico to visit him for a reconciliation had started to anger Charles and the Queen.
The revelations clearly show the cracks between the Royal Family and the Sussexes had started long before Megxit in January 2020, when Harry, now 37, and Meghan, 40, decided to quit their royal duties.
Bower says that, by July 2018, Charles’s irritation had come to a head. He writes: “He had never really understood her or what she wanted.
“That week, his irritation about Thomas Markle’s TV appearances, especially his criticism of the Royal Family, came to a head. ‘Can’t she just go and see him and make this stop?” Charles “berated” Harry.
“Charles could not understand Harry’s ‘explanations’.
“Harry did not tell his father about Thomas’s fury at being ignored by his daughter.
“Harry explained that Meghan refused to tele- phone Thomas Markle because she suspected that ‘his phone was not in his possession’ and ‘his email account was compromised’.
“The inconsistencies of Meghan’s excuses not only irritated Charles but perhaps also the Queen.”
Bower reveals that Prince Charles, Harry and Meghan gathered for the call during a break together at the Castle of Mey, the Queen’s Mother’s former home in Caithness, Scotland. The Queen, now 96, was on the other end.
He writes: “She joined Charles in a conference call with Meghan and Harry. At the outset, Charles and his mother urged Meghan to fly to America for a reconciliation.”
Meghan could not accept the suggestion, saying: “It was completely unrealistic to think I could fly discreetly to Mexico, arrive unannounced at his doorstep (as I had no means of secure communication with my father), to a location and residence I had never visited or known, in a small border town . . . and somehow hope to speak privately to my father with- out causing a frenzy of media attention and intrusion that could bring more embarrassment to the Royal Family.”
The conference call ended with both the senior royals vexed.
“I was especially sensitive to this” Meghan later admitted, “as I had very recently married into the fam- ily and was eager to please them.”
In turn, Harry fretted that Meghan needed protection. He sympathised with her resentment about the Palace’s keen sense of deference and hierarchy, saying: “They fundamentally don’t under- stand.”
Within two years, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would announce on Instagram that they were stepping back as “senior” members of the Royal Family and becoming financially independent.
The new book details the build-up to Megxit, how the couple thought they had Diana’s “magic”, how Meghan believed she should star as a campaigner and how “The Sussex brand” would offer the same global opportunities enjoyed by Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.
Bower says Meghan felt William and Kate were failing to offer the recognition and generosity she deserved, plus she hated the comparisons with the Duchess of Cambridge.
Bower writes: “Meghan was angry that Palace officials refused to protect her image. She refused to accept that staff were not employed to promote her as an individual, but instead placed her within the grid of the entire Royal Family.
“In particular, Meghan fumed about the refusal officially to criticise Thomas Markle. From her perspective, Meghan was isolated, vulnerable and stifled by conventions.”
The book says Meghan “hated the comparisons with uncomplaining Kate” and, in turn, Kate “regarded her neighbour as dismissive of other people”. Bower says: “Meghan’s manner towards her staff had become self-centred, manipulative and demanding.”
He continues: “Meghan became increasingly fragile, demanding that the Palace staff view the world from her perspective. In self-defence, she demanded retaliation against her critics.”
On Friday, October 12, 2018, at Princess Eugenie’s wedding reception, Meghan revealed she was pregnant. Two days later, the Sussexes flew to Sydney, Australia, and received an amazing reception.
But Bower writes: “Meghan was allegedly abrasive towards her four female staff and even towards the local British diplomats. According to one report, Meghan allegedly threw a cup of tea into the air. Her anger may have been partly fuelled by Harry. Every night he trawled social media, searching for snide comments on the internet. Every morning he and Meghan turned on their phones to surf the internet.
“Thin-skinned, they were inflamed by the slightest criticism. Then, both bombarded their staff with demands for retribution and removal of the criticism.”
Lawyers on behalf of Meghan have repeatedly denied that she bullied palace staff or aides.
Thomas had spoken out again. This time detailing how he “heard the baby announcement on the car radio”. Plus there were reports about one of Meghan’s outfits costing thousands of pounds. The book details how she was “irate”, and blamed staff for not suppressing the reports.
Meanwhile, Harry told her she resembled his mum Diana, who wowed Australia during a 1983 tour with Charles and baby William.
Bower writes: “The Sussexes had convinced themselves that their Australian success blessed them with Diana’s magic.”
He adds: “Meghan could not understand that Diana had won the public’s affection after years of work. Neither she nor Harry could grasp that emulating Diana required time, to weave a narrative and create a brand from which influence would flow.” Bower believes that, encouraged by Harry, Meghan conjured a fantasy that she could provide the leadership the monarchy required.
He writes: “Her activism would enhance the brand. To her staff, she gave the impression that she believed she personified the monarchy’s importance. Naturally, her American agents and lawyers were encouraging. For years they had struggled to land parts for her.”
The couple welcomed baby Archie in May 2019.
Four months later the secret edition of British Vogue was printed that caused such chaos within the palace that staff were left in tears.
Both Meghan and editor Edward Enninful dispute who came up with the idea but it was so top secret that when it became public knowledge Buckingham Palace was blindsided. The focus of the top secret magazine was on 15 women identified as Game Changers who “reshape society in radical and positive ways”. The Queen was not included.
Meghan even asked Palace staff member Sara Latham, head of communications for her and Prince Harry, to demand that the official publication date in Britain be delayed by one day to let publication in the US take the lead.
Her demand was rejected and the relationship between Meghan and Vogue’s staff deteriorated.
Bower writes: “Meghan’s ‘virtue-signalling Vogue’ was called ‘an epic misjudgment’. Diktats poured down on Latham from Buckingham Palace to ‘end it’ as fast as possible.
“She called Vogue’s staff with demands to terminate the maga- zine’s promotion. As each demand was refused, she abruptly ended the call. The blowback in Kensington Palace was instantaneous. Latham was seen weeping. “Under pressure from Buckingham Palace, Latham was fighting a thankless battle.
“Having published Vogue’s best- selling edition for 105 years, Enninful saw no reason to end the controversy. Nor did Meghan or her Los Angeles publicists and managers. The publicity was the prelude to the next stage of Meghan’s strategy.”
In November, Meghan received a visitor to their Frogmore Cottage on the Windsor Estate, Hillary Clinton. Meghan “unloaded her anxiety” to the American politician.
Two weeks later it was revealed the couple would not spend Christmas at Sandringham.
Instead they headed to a waterfront mansion on Vancouver Island in Canada, arranged by a friend and neighbour of Oprah Winfrey. Bower says Meghan was in regular contact with her business manager, lawyer and PR agency, continuing negotiations with Netflix and Spotify, and Sussex Royal applied for trademarks on a range of products including bandanas, newspapers, sportswear, pens and “emotional support services”.
Bower writes: “Meghan consulted her Los Angeles team about the best terms for their departure from Britain. The encouragement from her Los Angeles advisers was intoxicating. The Sussex brand, Meghan was assured, offered the same global opportunities as those reaped by the Obamas.
“Their first step should be a major interview. Oprah Winfrey was waiting.”
© Tom Bower, 2022. REVENGE: MEGHAN, HARRY AND THE WAR BETWEEN THE WINDSORS by Tom Bower, to be published by Blink Publishing, on 21st July at £22
Tom Bower is a British author and investigative journalist
