Meghan Markle shares the same ‘narcissistic and controlling’ qualities as Wallis Simpson, while the Duke of Sussex is as weak as King Edward VIII, a royal biographer has claimed.
Sally Bedell Smith, one of the royal family’s ‘authorized’ biographers, has claimed the Duchess of Sussex is ‘dominant’ and has ‘changed the dynamic between William and Harry’.
Speaking on the subject while promoting her latest book, which looks at how King George VI ‘saved the monarchy’ after her older brother Edward’s abdication in 1936, Bedell Smith said there were parallels between the two types of relationships.
The American author said she felt Prince William would have felt a similar sense of “betrayal” towards Harry as their great-grandfather felt towards the Duke of Windsor after he abdicated the throne.
It comes as a rift between the brothers has grown in recent years, and appears no closer to healing, with the pair appearing separately at the Diana Legacy Awards in London last week.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will appear on stage at Global Citizen Live: New York in September 2021
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor pictured in England in 1939, three years after he abdicated the throne
Speaking at the Oxford Literary Festival, Bedell Smith said the relationship between William and Harry mirrored that of King Edward VIII – who later became known as the Duke of Windsor – and King George VI almost 90 years earlier.
Edward abdicated just months into his reign so he could marry divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson, forcing George to take the throne until his death in 1952.
Bedell Smith, 75, said that in that situation, as with today’s brothers, “an American woman came into the picture and changed the dynamic of the whole thing.”
The Telegraph reported that she said: ‘It’s different. Harry would never become king. But I think there are similar feelings of betrayal that have caused William in particular to become furious with his brother – with good reason.
‘In some ways, Meghan and the Duchess of Windsor have similar qualities: very narcissistic, very controlling, very dominant.
“And when you read (the Duke of Windsor’s) letters you can see how weak he was and how much he needed a dominant woman, and it feels like Harry is much the same.”
She added that despite the turmoil caused by his ‘obsession’ with Simpson and subsequent abdication, Edward had ‘effectively rid Britain of an irresponsible king’.
Her new book ‘George VI and Elizabeth: the Marriage That Saved the Monarchy’ details how Edward was eventually replaced by someone better suited for the job, in the form of his younger brother.
Sally Bedell Smith told an audience at the Oxford Literary Festival that Meghan Markle shared a number of traits with Wallis Simpson
The Duke of Sussex waves to the crowd as he arrives to drop the puck for a ceremonial face-off during an NHL ice hockey game in Vancouver last year
Prince William, Prince of Wales, attends the Diana Legacy Awards at the Science Museum on March 14
Speaking about Edward VIII and George VI, Bedell Smith told the audience that the pair had grown “very close” after a “difficult childhood”.
However, Edward’s abdication and his subsequent behavior – he had known associations with fascists and Nazis – drove a wedge between the brothers.
The times Bedell Smith quoted the words: ‘The Duke of Windsor did many harmful things (after his abdication).
‘He lied to his brother about how much money he had. For example, he was selling off a huge amount of land in Sandringham just to pocket the money. It was these kinds of deceptions, and also his behavior in general.”
MailOnline has contacted representatives of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for comment.
It comes days after William and Harry made a rare joint appearance at the Diana Legacy Awards at the Science Museum in London on March 14.
But neither was in the room at the same time, even virtually, for the 25th anniversary of the event.
By the time Harry – 5,000 miles away in California – appeared via videolink, William was long gone, having left the event at 8.15pm.
It follows claims by a royal expert that Princess Diana insisted the brothers put their feud aside to present the award in her name.
The legacy award was introduced in 2017 by The Diana Award to celebrate the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, on the twentieth anniversary of her death.
William personally gave a speech to mark the charity’s 25th anniversary and presented awards to 20 recipients. The Prince of Wales appeared alone at the awards ceremony as his wife Kate continues to recover from abdominal surgery.
Prince William, Prince of Wales speaks with Tom Walker, Cel Spellman and Dr Tessy Oho CBE at the Diana Legacy Awards on March 14
A royal expert had claimed that Princess Diana (pictured in 1983) insisted that the brothers put aside their feud to present the award in her name
According to reports, Harry, who lives in California, would take part in a video call with the winners. However, his involvement did not occur until after his brother left the ceremony.
For most of their lives, the royal brothers have been close, united by the shared trauma of losing their mother, who died at the age of 36 in a car crash in Paris in 1997, when William was 15 and Harry 12.
But since Harry’s marriage to his wife Meghan Markle in 2018, relations between them have deteriorated.
An explosive interview the couple gave to host Oprah Winfrey in March 2021 marked a new low, while anecdotes about their relationship in Harry’s bombshell memoir Spare, released last year, also saw them grow further apart.
The feud between the estranged brothers has cast a shadow over the entire family, prompting Harry and Meghan to leave Britain.
There were hopes of a reunion when Harry flew back to Britain after news of King Charles’ cancer diagnosis was announced.
But the king only saw Harry for half an hour – and William made no plans to see his brother.