{"id":181946,"date":"2026-04-01T10:21:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T10:21:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/181946\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T10:21:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T10:21:41","slug":"queen-elizabeth-ii-refused-to-take-prince-harrys-calls-without-an-aide-present","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/181946\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen Elizabeth II refused to take Prince Harry’s calls without an aide present"},"content":{"rendered":"

Queen Elizabeth II refused to take Prince Harry\u2019s phone calls without another person present in the room following his 2020 exit from royal life<\/a>, writer Hugo Vickers sensationally claims in his new book.<\/p>\n

After Harry and wife Meghan Markle gave a bombshell interview to Oprah Winfrey <\/a>and started work on his tell-all memoir, \u201cSpare,\u201d Vickers, a longtime friend of the royal family, revealed, \u201cWhenever Prince Harry called his grandmother, she asked her lady-in-waiting to stay with her.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe distress the Sussexes caused the Queen in the last years of her life cannot be overestimated,\u201d\u00a0he adds of Harry and Meghan in his new book, \u201cQueen Elizabeth II: A Personal History.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n

Queen Elizabeth II refused to take her grandson Prince Harry\u2019s calls without an aide present, Hugo Vickers writes in his new book. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Harry, 41, moved his family to California in 2020 after his plan to be \u201chalf in, half out\u201d as a working royal was scuppered by his grandmother. He then went on to make millions from selling tales of his life as the youngest son of King Charles and Princess Diana.<\/p>\n

When Markle accused unnamed royals \u2013 later reported to be King Charles and Kate Middleton <\/a>\u2013 of racism during her time inside palace walls during the Winfrey interview in March 2021, the Queen famously released a statement saying, \u201csome recollections may vary.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Once Harry was ensconced in the multi-million home he bought in Montecito, Page Six is told the Queen would remain \u201cmonosyllabic\u201d during their calls. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere were lots of one word answers, \u2018yes\u2019 and \u2018no\u2019,\u201d said a well-placed palace insider.<\/p>\n

The Queen advised Harry to wait a year before marrying Markle, Vickers writes \u2013 but he did not listen to his grandmother. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Not forgetting the Sussexes had also spoken out on their Netflix documentary, \u201cThe Queen clearly wanted some kind of protection,\u201d the insider said, adding the monarch kept her lady in waiting with her during Harry\u2019s calls for \u201cmoral support and protection\u2026 to ensure there was a record of what was said.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the Queen was also on her guard with Harry because she was so hurt by what he had done,\u201d the insider added.<\/p>\n

Vickers also writes the late monarch, who died in September 2022,<\/a> had refused to see the couple by herself when they brought their daughter, Princess Lilibet, to meet her for the first time during the celebrations for the Platinum Jubilee in June 2022.<\/p>\n

The Queen was not a fan of Markle\u2019s wedding gown, \u201ctoo white and with ungainly shoulders\u201d, Vickers writes. REUTERS<\/p>\n

\u201cPrince Harry was at [his then-residence] Frogmore Cottage with his wife and two children, the gate adorned with balloons to celebrate baby Lilibet\u2019s first birthday. They visited the Queen with the children, again with a lady-in-waiting present,\u201d Vickers said.<\/p>\n

As previously reported, the Queen had refused to let them bring their photographer<\/a> to capture the moment she met Lilibet, fearing the publicity-hungry pair would release the photo.<\/p>\n

And it appears the Queen was dismissive of her grandson\u2019s new life in the US, telling a friend, \u201cAnd now Harry has opted out, and for what? To be a carer for [his son] Archie?\u201d Vickers said.<\/p>\n

Although Harry was always close to his grandmother, in later years she also refused to see him alone, Vickers said. REUTERS<\/p>\n

In his book, out in the UK April 8, Vickers alleged the Queen had advised Harry to wait before marrying Markle, a one-time actress and a\u00a0divorc\u00e9e. <\/p>\n

He writes, \u201cPrince Harry would never have been allowed to marry such a girl at an earlier time in the reign for obvious reasons, but the union was welcomed by a younger, more tolerant generation. Staff at Windsor Castle surrounded the young couple at the Christmas party in 2017, nicknaming the bride \u2018Sparkle\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPrince Philip was not taken in,\u201d Vickers writes, \u201cHe referred to her as \u2018The American.\u2019 Nor were the Royal Family entirely happy, Prince Charles taking a Mountbatten line \u2013 have fun with her, but don\u2019t marry her. The Queen suggested that Harry should wait a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harry did not wait. He wed Markle in a lavish ceremony at St. George\u2019s Cathedral in Windsor in May 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hugo Vickers\u2019 book is out in the UK on April 8.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was said that the Queen did not like the dress \u2013 too white and with ungainly shoulders,\u201d Vickers added. \u201cSomeone close to the Queen said her attitude to the actual wedding was: \u2018You get on with it. It\u2019s nothing to do with me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

There were also issues when Harry and Markle moved into Frogmore Cottage, on the Windsor Estate, and close to Windsor Castle, where the Queen spent most of her time.<\/p>\n

Talking to Page Six, Vickers revealed, the monarch \u201cticked off\u201d Markle for being rude to a gardener at Windsor.<\/p>\n

Harry and Markle quit the UK \u2013 and the royal family \u2013 when the Queen refused to let them be \u2018half in\/half out\u2019 in the royal family. WireImage<\/p>\n

The Queen told friends that Harry was merely a \u201ccarer\u201d for his son Archie after moving to the US. hrhofsussex\/Instagram<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they were living there, Meghan was rude to one of the under-gardeners \u2014 there are hundreds of gardeners,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen one of the head gardeners mentioned this to the Queen she got in her car and drove over and ticked off Meghan for being rude to the staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vickers gives a full account of the Queen\u2019s life, from the fact that had it not been for her uncle, King Edward\u2019s, abdication in 1936 to marry Wallace Simpson, she would never have been put on the throne at the tender age of 25.<\/p>\n

By the time the Queen died aged 96, her grandson was torn apart from his father and his brother, Prince William, from whom he remains estranged.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe final curtain had fallen on a golden age,\u201d Vickers said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queen Elizabeth II refused to take Prince Harry\u2019s phone calls without another person present in the room following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[2136,489,9,24,63,490,1312,122,124,123,486],"class_list":["post-181946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-california","tag-meghan-markle","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-prince-harry","tag-queen-elizabeth-ii","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-royal-family"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}