Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s 2018 royal wedding dazzled the world as a fairy‑tale moment but resurfaced recollections from one of Queen Elizabeth II’s closest confidantes suggest the months leading up to the ceremony were far more fraught.
According to royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith, the late Lady Elizabeth Anson a cousin of the Queen and a long‑trusted insider privately described a period marked by tension, hurt feelings and growing concern inside the palace. Smith published these accounts in her Royals Extra Substack in June 2025, later excerpted in The Times of London.
Anson, who died in 2020 at age 79, reportedly told Smith that friction developed between Harry and his grandmother during wedding preparations. Miscommunications and decisions made without consulting the Queen left her feeling “very left out.”
One flashpoint, Anson said, was Harry’s decision to ask the Archbishop of Canterbury to officiate the ceremony at St George’s Chapel without first seeking approval from the Dean of Windsor a break from protocol that reportedly upset the monarch.
The claims resurfaced after a RadarOnline.com report cited a royal source alleging Harry had a “10‑minute meltdown” during a tense meeting with the Queen about wedding arrangements. The source said the monarch “does not tolerate those sorts of histrionics” and views such behaviour as “a sign of weakness.”
Despite the strain, Anson said relations improved in late April 2018, just weeks before the wedding.
“The Queen and Harry have patched things up,” she recalled. “He came to her on his own… she said she felt very left out, so he wrote her a letter about what was happening.”
Still, Anson suggested the Queen harboured lingering doubts about the match. Using her nickname for the monarch “The Number One Lady” Anson said the Queen felt “the jury is out on whether she likes Meghan.” She also noted concerns about dynamics between Meghan and the younger generation of royals, particularly Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Looking back, Anson believed the wedding‑week tensions foreshadowed future challenges for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex challenges that would later erupt into public view.
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