Meghan turned down Queen’s suggestion that she take advice from Sophie, Countess of Wessex

By William On Apr 8, 2023

The Duchess of Sussex rejected the Queen’s advice before her wedding to Prince Harry, according to a smashing new book in the Daily Mail.

The late Her Majesty had advised Meghan, then her grandson’s fiancée, to ask her daughter-in-law Sophie, now the Duchess of Edinburgh, for help for her wedding day.

Sophie Rhys-Jones, 58, married Prince Edward in a lavish ceremony at St George’s Chapel in 1999 and has weathered her own share of scandal – but became a ‘second daughter’ to Queen Elizabeth II and is now a trusted senior royal.

But Meghan gave the monarch only a curt answer, saying, “I have Harry.”

The revelation comes in Robert Jobson’s new book Our King: Charles III – The Man And The Monarch Revealed – part two of which will be published in this weekend’s Mail on Sunday.

Prince Edward was promoted to Duke of Edinburgh on the occasion of his 59th birthday, meaning Sophie is now a Duchess too. The former Countess of Wessex was previously obliged to defer to Prince Harry’s wife (pictured together in 2019), who was a senior duchess

Meghan and Sophie walk outside Westminster Abbey on the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral and burial in September 2022

In March 2020, Prince Edward was praised for defusing potential tensions when he sat between the Sussexes and the Prince and Princess of Wales at Commonwealth Day service that year (pictured)

The Queen was determined that Harry and Meghan’s marriage would get off to a good start and offered the Duchess the help of one of her most trusted aides, Sophie.

No doubt she expected her kind offer to be received with gratitude and was surprised to be rejected by the American actress, who believed her husband’s help would be enough.

Queen Elizabeth II firmly believed that Meghan – a mixed-race divorced American actress – would be a breath of fresh air and a great asset to the monarchy.

And while things started off positively, after the royal couple stopped working in early 2020, their relationship with the rest of the family began to fall apart.

The Duchess of Edinburgh, recently elevated, became a mainstay of the Queen’s household after Prince Philip’s death.

After taking her new rank alongside her husband, Prince Edward, who inherited the title from his father, the new Duchess was said to be “relieved” that she no longer had to bow to Meghan.

Sophie had previously had a duty to surrender to Prince Harry’s wife, who was of higher rank as Duchess.

Queen Elizabeth II ‘wanted Meghan Markle to make a success of her new role’ and suggested Sophie (pictured together in 2018) as a mentor – but the Duchess of Sussex said she ‘had Harry’, a new book reveals

‘FIRST MEMBER OF THE ROYAL FAMILY TO VISIT AFTER THE BIRTH OF ARCHIE’

Sophie was the first member of the royal family to visit the Sussexes following the birth of their son, Prince Archie, in 2019. The times.

A source told the outlet that Sophie is “normal” and has empathy that others in the Firm may “not naturally have.”

They said, ‘She did the right thing. She got into the car and went there. She has the empathy and warmth that people who grew up in that family may not naturally have.

‘Normal people would think: this is what you do. You go; you make sure the new mother is okay and you see the baby.”

A friend of the couple said, “Sophie is relieved. She no longer has to bow to someone in the family who has not only stepped down from royal duties, but has also spent the past three years criticizing the institution Sophie supports so strongly.’

Mum of two Meghan, 41, explained the intricacies of a bow in her recent Netflix docuseries.

The Sussexes revealed that before meeting the late Queen, Harry asked Meghan, “You know how to bow, don’t you?”

Meghan told the cameras, “I just thought it was a joke,” before laughingly reenacting the exaggerated bow she gave Queen Elizabeth II.

However, it is a tradition that the royal family takes seriously. Princess Anne made a poignant bow to her mother’s coffin as it entered the palace of Holyroodhouse in Scotland.

Experts previously noted that the spotlight on the Countess is what Prince Philip “would have wanted” and helped to “keep his memory alive.”

At a service for her mother-in-law near Balmoral, the Countess of Wessex was seen teary-eyed as she knelt to admire tributes – demonstrating the depth of their relationship which had progressed to the point where she would be treated as a ‘ the queen’s second daughter.

The Queen cared for Sophie in 2005 after her mother, Mary Rhys-Jones, 77, died of stomach cancer.

Prince Edward and Sophie’s home, Bagshot Park, is just a short drive from Windsor, meaning the Queen’s youngest son and his family would be a regular visitor.

Walking their dogs together was a favorite pastime of the couple. They also shared a love of military history, spending hours studying old documents at the Royal Archives in Windsor, where Sophie and her mother-in-law indulged in their shared hobby of researching military history.

Even if she couldn’t see the Queen in person — Sophie always made sure to yell “Mommy” every day — and she was the first royal to speak of Prince Philip’s death.

And in 2021, a tearful Countess described the Queen as “amazing” as she and her husband Prince Edward comforted Her Majesty at Windsor Castle following the death of her husband Prince Philip.

She has also become a source of advice for the new Princess of Wales, who admires the way Sophie balances her royal duties with motherhood.

• Adapted from Our King: Charles III — The Man And The Monarch Revealed by Robert Jobson, published by John Blake on April 13 for £22. © Robert Jobson 2023. To order a copy for £18.70 (offer valid until 9 May 2023; UK postage free on orders over £20), visit mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937.