Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal wedding took place on May 19, 2018 at St. George’s Chapel.According to Queen Elizabeth’s close friend and cousin Lady Elizabeth “Liza” Anson, the monarch wasn’t very involved in the wedding plans.“She said she was really upset,” Anson told a longtime royal biographer.
In the months before Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal wedding on May 19, 2018, Queen Elizabeth reportedly lamented that she had a limited role in planning her grandson’s wedding, according to a close friend.
Queen Elizabeth at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s 2018 wedding.
Getty
Per Brides, multiple instances—including a tense conversation between the Queen and Harry and also Meghan’s reticence to share details of her Givenchy gown with the monarch—led Harry to have “blown his relationship” with his grandmother by the time his big day came around.
Veteran royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith wrote in a Substack post that Lady Elizabeth “Liza” Anson—a confidante and cousin of the Queen, as well as a party planner—told her that whenever she raised ideas about the royal wedding, Meghan refused to make any decisions without Harry present.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on May 19, 2018.
Getty
“Harry wrote to me and said they were going another way,” Anson told Smith. “He said, ‘I am close to my grandmother, and she is content with this.’ When I spoke with the Queen, she said she is not at all content.”
The Queen was also reportedly “dismayed” (according to Brides) 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, Bedell Smith wrote. She added that the Duke of Sussex falsely assumed that anything could happen with the Queen’s permission, not taking into account that, when it came to the religious aspects of the wedding ceremony, that fell under the Dean of Windsor.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding day.
Getty
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle kissing on their wedding day.
Getty
“She said she was really upset,” Anson told Bedell Smith. “I was shocked when the Queen told me this, how she was so saddened. I had no idea about the conversation, that he was rude to her for 10 minutes.”
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on May 19, 2018.
Getty
In the days before the royal wedding, though, Bedell Smith wrote that the Queen and Harry patched everything up. “She said she felt very left out, so he wrote her a letter about what was happening,” Anson told Bedell Smith. Ultimately, the couple’s wedding—held at St. George’s Chapel in front of 600 guests—had the Queen’s stamp of approval.