The royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle seemed to the world to be a happy ending for the couple. However, according to resurfaced claims from one of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s closest confidantes, the months leading up to the ceremony were marked by tension, hurt feelings and growing anxiety behind the palace walls.
The revelations paint a picture of growing tension during the run-up to Harry and Meghan’s wedding eight years ago.According to royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith, Lady Elizabeth Anson, a cousin and confidant of the Queen, shared memories indicating significant friction between the grandson and grandmother during the wedding preparations. Anson, who died aged 79 in 2020, gives Smith detailed accounts of the disagreements and misunderstandings that troubled the king.
Smith reported these memories in her Royals Extra Substack column in June 2025, which was quoted in The Times of London.
A tense exchange between Prince Harry and Queen Elizabeth II
Lady Elizabeth Anson tells Smith that Harry had become involved in a tense 10-minute argument with his grandmother over wedding arrangements. “Harry has blown up his relationship with his grandmother,” Anson tells Smith. “She said she was really upset. I was shocked when the Queen told me that, how very sad she was.
“I had no idea what the conversation was about, and that he was rude to her for 10 minutes.”
Wedding planning has become a source of friction
Anson told Smith that there were several issues that made the King feel left out of the wedding planning process. One source of frustration was Harry’s decision to ask the Archbishop of Canterbury officiate the wedding at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle without first obtaining the approval of the Dean of Windsor.
Relations between Prince Harry and Queen Elizabeth II have improved
Anson told Smith that at the end of April 2018, just weeks before the ceremony, relations between the grandson and grandmother had improved. “The Queen and Harry have patched things up,” says Anson.
“He came to her alone. She said she felt very neglected, so he wrote her a letter about what was happening.”However, Anson noted that doubts remain about the marriage. “Lady Number One says the jury is out on whether she loves Meghan or not,” Anson recalled, using her nickname for the Queen. Anson also claimed the royal has concerns about the dynamics within the younger generation of royals, particularly between Meghan, Prince William and Kate Middleton. Looking back, Anson believes the tensions surrounding the wedding portended future problems for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, expressing concerns about whether Meghan was the right partner for Harry.
