Queen ‘wanted Meghan Markle to make a success of her new role’ and suggested Sophie Wessex as a mentor but Duchess ‘wasn’t interested’, Gyles Brandreth tells Palace Confidential
- Queen Elizabeth II ‘wanted Meghan Markle to make a success of her new role’
- Gyles Brandreth said that the Queen even suggested Sophie Wessex as a mentor
- He told Palace Confidential that the Duchess of Sussex, 41, ‘wasn’t interested’
Queen Elizabeth II ‘wanted Meghan Markle to make a success of her new role’ and suggested Sophie Wessex as a mentor – but the Duchess of Sussex ‘wasn’t interested’, according to a royal author.
Gyles Brandreth told Palace Confidential that Her Majesty, who died aged 96 on September 8, did ‘everything that she could’ to welcome Meghan, who now lives with Prince Harry and their two children in a £11million mansion in Montecito, California.
He said the Queen suggested the Countess of Wessex as a ‘sort of mentor’ to the Duchess, however, Meghan ‘felt she had Harry’ and didn’t need further help from an advisor.
His comments come as the Royal Family brace for further attacks from Harry and Meghan when the first episode of their ‘explosive’ Netflix series is released on Thursday.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Queen Elizabeth II pictured attending a ceremony to open the new Mersey Gateway Bridge on June 14, 2018 in Widnes, England
Gyles also spoke of the Queen’s fondness for Harry, revealing that she was happy to hear that the couple were abbreviating their daughter Lilibet’s, one, name to Lili.
‘I do know that when she heard the fact they were abbreviating it often to Lili, she though “that’s rather nice”‘, he said.
He also briefly discussed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s tell-all with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, and the late monarch’s reaction to it.
The royal author said: ‘The Queen, I know she expressed about the Oprah interview, I know the Duke of Edinburgh would’ve thought that a bad idea, simply on principle, don’t talk about it. The Queen, “television nonsense, I don’t really worry about that.”‘
Speaking to the Mail’s Palace Confidential, Gyles (pictured) said: ‘The Queen wanted Meghan to make a success of the marriage and of her new role, and indeed did everything that she could to encourage that.’
Sophie of Wessex (left) was a favourite with her mother-in-law, who had hoped that she would be a mentor for Prince Harry’s wife Meghan (right). Pictured together in November 2019
He continued: ‘The Queen wanted Meghan to make a success of the marriage and of her new role, and indeed did everything that she could to encourage that.
‘I think she suggested to her that Sophie Wessex, who certainly was a favourite with her, and had been through it because she had married into the royal family, and married Prince Edward, might help her, be a sort of mentor.
‘I don’t think Meghan was interested in that. She felt she had Harry, she didn’t need to be offered a mentor… The Queen was very keen at first,’ he concluded.
Sophie, the wife of the Queen’s youngest child Prince Edward was a favourite with the late monarch.
There’s no denying the 57-year-old formed a very close bond with her mother-in-law.
Gyles believed that the Queen would have accepted Meghan and Harry’s (pictured together in July 2018) wishes to develop their lives elsewhere
She was welcomed into the Royal Family after tying the knot to Prince Edward back in 1999, and the couple have since welcomed two children, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn.
Meanwhile, Gyles also suggested the Queen would have accepted Meghan and Harry’s wishes to develop their lives elsewhere.
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He said: ‘I don’t really know, where you say, it all went wrong. Meghan and Harry decided to develop their lives elsewhere, and the Queen would’ve accepted that and wished them well. That would’ve been her attitude.’
Meghan and Harry were pictured yesterday for the first time since their incendiary Netflix trailer — as they arrived in New York by private jet to accept an award for their ‘heroic’ stand against ‘structural racism’ in the Royal Family.
The duchess beamed as she and Harry stepped into a waiting SUV before making their way into the Big Apple, with the 41-year-old sporting an all-black outfit and large sunglasses while her 38-year-old husband wore a buttoned-down white shirt and black trousers.
The Sussexes are set to receive a human rights award at tonight’s The Ripple of Hope gala, where tickets are selling for up to $1million (£847,000). Previous winners include Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
In a trailer for their documentary released yesterday, Harry alleged the couple had suffered from leaks and planted stories that backed up the Royal Family ‘hierarchy’.
Allies told the six-hour series on Netflix there was ‘a war against Meghan to suit other people’s agendas’, with one claiming ‘it’s about hatred, it’s about race’.
In clips for the show, the duke also took aim at royal aides, smirking as he commented: ‘It’s a dirty game.’
But royal sources insisted it was ‘absolutely wrong’ to suggest the couple had been briefed against, and insisted ‘unprecedented steps’ had been taken to support them.
One insider told The Daily Telegraph that royal staff were instead ‘bending over backwards to work with them’.
They added it was ‘non-stop on their behalf’ when it came to defending them against negative stories – which began when rumours emerged of the couple’s behaviour towards staff.
Another said the narrative comparing Meghan to Kate was ‘fabricated’ with no difference between how they were treated by the press.
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