A royal expert has shed light on the moment that the late Queen Elizabeth had to “intervene” during a tense moment just hours before Meghan Markle and Prince Harry tied the knot
The late Queen Elizabeth reportedly had to “intervene” between Prince Harry and Prince William as one major issue came to a head just hours before Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding day.
The brothers’ reported bad blood has continued to be a hot topic of conversation for royal fans in recent years, but one royal expert has given an insight into when cracks may have been starting to show on their strained relationship.
In Channel 5’s newly released Prince William: A Life in Pictures, royal commentator Charlotte Griffiths shared how the Prince of Wales made his feelings known on Meghan Markle just a matter of hours before the world watched the wedding at Windsor Castle.
Looking back to the night before Harry and Meghan’s special day in May 2018, Charlotte said: “The fact is, William had been doubtful about the relationship and how fast it had moved, and had expressed that doubt, and it had caused much friction between the brothers.”
While Prince William had felt a growing sense of “doubt” regarding his brother’s upcoming marriage, the late Queen was required to “intervene” as matters came to the fore: “To the point that the night before the wedding, William actually declined to go to the usher’s dinner. In the end, the Queen intervened and he agreed to go.”
Despite this, Meghan and Harry’s wedding day went exactly as planned with millions tuning in to watch the occasion from across the globe.
While analysing one particularly cheery picture between the brothers, Newsweek’s Chief Royal Correspondent Jack Royston claimed that the image was “probably the last time they shared a purely happy moment together”.
In the years since then, details of the breakdown in the brother’s relationship have played out in public. In what was possibly the most notable insight into their fractured bond, came in the form of Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, that was released on bookshelves across the country in January 2023.
In an excerpt from the book, Harry claimed that a disagreement turned physical when William had called Meghan “difficult,” “rude,” and “abrasive.”
Looking back to the incident, which he says unfolded in 2019, Harry wrote: “It all happened so fast. So very fast. He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor.”
He added: “I landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out.”
Prince William: A Life in Pictures is set to air tomorrow evening (Saturday August 2) at 8:30pm on Channel 5.
