Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin reportedly believed that Meghan Markle’s father, Thomas Markle, had reservations about attending her wedding to Prince Harry.
Before her 2020 death, the late Lady Elizabeth Anson — Queen Elizabeth’s first cousin once removed — shared her perspective in conversations with royal author Sally Bedell Smith.
In a story that was published by The Times on Tuesday, July 1, Smith revealed Anson once told her “that Meghan’s father, Thomas Markle, was ‘frightened of coming to the wedding,’” referring to the royal nuptials between Meghan, 43, and Harry, 40 — although no explanation why was given.
Ahead of the wedding, Anson reportedly asked Queen Elizabeth if it seemed “rather odd for Meghan to be arriving with her mother” Doria Ragland. Anson also explained that since Thomas was unable to “do steps,” he planned to enter through a side door and meet his daughter at the chapel’s main entrance.
In May 2018, Thomas, now 80, was caught posing for photos for paparazzi and it was ultimately revealed that he had struck a deal with a photo agency. Around that same time, he told TMZ he suffered a heart attack and was opting not to attend. King Charles — then Prince Charles — accompanied Meghan to the altar.
As Star previously reported, Queen Elizabeth was allegedly “dismayed” that Harry reached out to the Archbishop of Canterbury to perform the ceremony in St George’s Chapel without getting permission from the Dean of Windsor first leading up to the couple’s wedding.
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According to Bedell Smith, Anson — who had asked to be called Liza — said, “[Prince] Harry wrote to me and said they were going another way. 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.”
Smith continued that Liza “added, ‘Meghan could turn into nothing but trouble. She sees things in a different way.’”
Harry and Meghan have continued to forge their own path, notably stepping down from their duties as senior working royals in 2020 just two years before Elizabeth died in September 2022.
After relocating from the UK, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are still living in Montecito, California, while raising their two children: Prince Archie, 6, and 4-year-old Princess Lilibet.