She was the late Queen’s closest confidante and she likely knew how the monarch really felt about everyone she met.
Lady Elizabeth Anson, a great-niece of the Queen Mother and a goddaughter of King George VI, would speak to the Queen every week on the telephone and details from these chats have recently revealed by journalist and royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith on her Substack Royal Extras.
According to another royal insider, she was more than happy to make her feelings about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle known.
Writing in her royal biography, My Mother And I, Ingrid Seward said that Elizabeth told her cousin that she was happy that Harry had found someone he loved but revealed how the Prince put her in an awkward position.
Seward wrote that the Queen had told Liza, as Lady Anson was known, she was ‘pleased that her grandson had found a woman to love who appeared to be able to return his intense passions’.
Elizabeth was still somewhat blindsided when Harry asked for permission to marry Meghan without his father or Prince Philip present.
‘Neither Charles nor Prince Philip was present when, in the middle of a windswept Norfolk field, Harry asked his grandmother for permission to marry Meghan,’ Seward wrote.
The Queen gave a ‘cryptic’ reply, saying: ‘”Well then, I suppose I have to say yes”.’
Seward claims that Harry was ‘floored’ by her answer but soon realised his grandmother had given him permission.
Queen Elizabeth II told Lady Anson she was ‘pleased that her grandson had found a woman to love who appeared to be able to return his intense passions’
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on their wedding day. The Queen was allegedly dismayed that Harry had asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to perform the wedding service in St George’s Chapel without first requesting permission from the Dean of Windsor
Harry kisses his grandmother on the cheek. Elizabeth was still somewhat blindsided when he asked for permission to marry Meghan without his father or Prince Philip present
Despite the Queen’s somewhat lukewarm response to Harry’s request, by all accounts the Queen had liked Meghan upon their first meeting.
However, not everyone was so supportive of the nuptials. According to journalist and royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith, writing on her Substack Royal Extras, Liza was not convinced that Meghan was in love with Harry and warned that she ‘could turn into nothing but trouble’.
Smith revealed this week that Liza allegedly said just days before Meghan and Harry walked down the aisle: ‘We hope but don’t quite think she is in love. We think she engineered it all.’
She also warned: ‘It’s worrying that so many people are questioning whether Meghan is right for Harry. The problem, bless his heart, is that Harry is neither bright nor strong, and she is both’.
‘Meghan is clearly brighter than Harry, but she has to be careful not to overshadow him,’ she added.
During Harry and Meghan’s wedding, the Queen reportedly made her feelings about Meghan’s dress known, according to Ingrid Seward.
The royal biographer wrote: ‘The Queen never voiced her true opinions except to her close confidants, such as Lady Elizabeth Anson.
‘She told me that the Queen had made only one remark about Meghan and Harry’s wedding and that was that Meghan’s Givenchy wedding gown was “too white”.’
Lady Anson (pictured), a great-niece of the Queen Mother and a goddaughter of King George VI , would speak to the Queen every week on the telephone
The Queen and Meghan on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in July 2018. By all accounts the Queen had liked Meghan upon their first meeting
Harry and Meghan leaving St George’s Chapel as husband and wife. The Queen told Liza that Meghan’s dress was ‘too white’ for a divorcee
‘In the monarch’s view, it was not appropriate for a divorcee getting remarried in church to look quite so flamboyantly virginal,’ Seward added.
Meghan had previously been married to Hollywood film producer Trevor Engelson between 2011 and 2014.
Traditionally, divorcee brides are expected to opt for a colour other than white.
Born in Windsor Castle, Lady Anson was a high-society party planner.
The Queen’s cousin, who arranged her 80th birthday party, allegedly said just days before Meghan and Harry’s wedding: ‘We hope but don’t quite think she is in love. We think she engineered it all.’
Meghan was apparently ‘full of charm’ and appeared ‘natural, intelligent and thoughtful’ after she became engaged to Harry in 2017. But as the wedding approached, Meghan allegedly became increasingly ‘bossy’ and Liza said the Queen was privately ‘very worried’.
Smith wrote: ‘When we spoke two weeks before the May 19 wedding, Liza had just heard from the Queen. “The Number One Lady – I call her Jemima – says the jury is out on whether she likes Meghan,” said Liza. “My Jemima is very worried.”’
Lady Anson is said to have added: ‘Harry is besotted and weak about women’.
Born in Windsor Castle, Lady Anson was a high-society party planner
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex during a carriage procession after their wedding ceremony
The cracks apparently appeared in February 2018. Lady Anson claimed Harry wrote to her and said that his grandmother was ‘content’ with the way the wedding plans were coming along.
Smith wrote that Lady Anson had said: ‘When I spoke with the Queen, she said she is not at all content’.
Smith wrote: ‘According to Liza, the Queen was dismayed that Harry had asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to perform the wedding service in St George’s Chapel without first requesting permission from the Dean of Windsor.
“Harry seems to think the Queen can do what she wants, but she can’t,” said Liza. “On the religious side, it is the Dean of Windsor’s jurisdiction.” As a result, Liza said that “Harry has blown his relationship with his grandmother. She said she was really upset. I was shocked when the Queen told me this, how she was so saddened. I had no idea about the conversation, that he was rude to her for ten minutes. They had tea with her the day before yesterday. She was trying to find out about the wedding dress, and Meghan wouldn’t tell her.”’
Lady Anson, at this point, predicted that Meghan could ‘turn into nothing but trouble’, remarking that the Suits actress ‘sees things in a different way’.
Lady Anson, pictured with Queen Elizabeth II, was not convinced that Meghan was in love with Harry and warned that she ‘could turn into nothing but trouble’
Following these February rows, towards the end of April Lady Anson claimed that ‘the Queen and Harry have patched things up’.
Harry apparently visited her alone to smooth things over and later wrote to her with more wedding details.
Smith wrote: ‘Liza also said that Meghan’s father, Thomas Markle, was “frightened of coming to the wedding”. I asked her if Meghan was being bossy. “So I gather,” Liza replied. “Very much so.”‘
