All The Times Meghan Markle May Have Snubbed Queen Elizabeth And The Royal Family

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, might have left the monarchy in 2020, but the tea remains piping hot, especially when it comes to the rumors about how Meghan gets along with each member of the royal family. Do they love her, or do they hate her? Royal experts and biographers seem to have mixed opinions. Word on the street is that there was one royal who wasn't afraid to put Meghan Markle in her place — Queen Elizabeth II. The truth about the queen and Meghan's relationship is that it was, er, complicated. While Meghan told the world how much she loved the monarch, insiders hinted that there was some tension between the two — especially after Prince Harry and Meghan's abrupt exit from the U.K.

When looking back at Meghan's relationship with the late queen, there were clearly some moments where the duchess snubbed her grandmother-in-law, but the latter arguably did some snubbing of her own, as observed during her 2019 Christmas address. As the monarch wished the nation well, some family photographs were on display, but Harry and Meghan were notably missing. Ouch. In their book, "Finding Freedom," Carolyn Durand and Omid Scobie claimed the Sussexes took the omission very personally. It is perhaps because they felt wronged by the monarchy that Harry and Meghan have been so willing to air their dirty laundry. Meghan, especially, has seemingly snubbed the queen and other members of the family on more than one occasion.

If there's one person who likely felt burned by Meghan Markle early on, it is Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh. Royal author Gyles Brandreth told the Daily Mail that Queen Elizabeth II wanted to help Meghan fit into the royal family, so she asked Sophie to teach the new duchess the ropes. Only, Meghan wasn't interested. "I think she suggested to her that Sophie Wessex had been through it because she had married into the royal family," Brandreth said. "I don't think Meghan was interested in that. She felt she had Harry, she didn't need to be offered a mentor."

In retrospect, Meghan might have had an easier time adjusting had she taken Sophie up on the offer. Aside from knowing what it's like to be an outsider stepping into the royal fold, Sophie also shared many of Meghan's interests and had done plenty of work advocating for women and young girls, something Meghan was also passionate about. The two could have become fast friends, but alas, that is not how things panned out.

If rumors are to be believed, Sophie isn't exactly missing Meghan, particularly since she became the Duchess of Edinburgh. "Sophie is relieved. She no longer has to curtsy to someone in the family who has not only left royal duties but has spent the past three years criticizing the institution that Sophie works so hard to support," a friend told Hello! in 2025.

Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, wasn't the only royal Meghan Markle reportedly snubbed when she first became a member of the family. Apparently, Camilla, Queen Consort, also got the cold shoulder when she offered to help Meghan adjust to royal life. Royal biographer Angela Levin told the Palace Confidential that Camilla made a real effort to make Meghan feel welcome and prepare her for the media onslaught. The queen consort was the perfect person to help Meghan weather the media scrutiny; after all, she'd been the subject of a thousand scathing headlines thanks to her affair with King Charles III.

When Camilla offered her help to Catherine, Princess of Wales, the latter happily accepted. Meghan, however, didn't think the queen consort had anything to teach her. It might be safe to say that she was very wrong about that. "Camilla felt the experience she had from coping with public abuse, press insults, and frostiness from the royal family put her in a good place to help Meghan adjust to the restrictions of royal life and was equally keen to help Meghan find her feet," Levin penned in her book "Camilla, From Outcast to Queen Consort." Meghan passed on the help, and we all know how that turned out.

Royal expert Robert Jobson touched on how Meghan handled the media onslaught compared to Camilla during an interview with "Kinsey Schofield Unfiltered," noting that Camilla's dignified silence throughout the media tempest is what eventually made the public accept her. Meghan, of course, went the opposite route, and it's only caused more drama.

Out of everything that went wrong at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding, the Duchess of Sussex's reported snub of Queen Elizabeth II was arguably one of the most memorable. As with all royal events, certain royal protocols must be followed at weddings, which includes the happy couple paying their respects to the monarch. The men bow their heads and the women curtsy. Harry and Meghan initially appeared to do neither, but the focus was much more on Meghan's lack of a curtsy than Harry's apparent snub.

The cameras never captured a clear shot of the duchess curtsying to the queen during the ceremony, setting royal pundits ablaze over the apparent faux pas. As it turned out, Meghan did curtsy to the queen; the cameras simply missed the all-important moment. "The Royal Reviewer News Show" noted that the aerial view of the chapel made it appear as if Meghan never paid her respects to the monarch.

While Meghan did curtsy, she and Harry didn't follow every single royal protocol down to the letter when it came to their big day. Rumors swirled that Meghan delivered a speech at her wedding reception, an act that went against protocol, which dictates only the bride's father, the groom, and the best man have the honor.

Before they made the move to the United States, there were signs that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle always planned on leaving the royal family. One major red flag was when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex didn't spend Christmas or New Year's with Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of the clan, despite receiving invitations to do so.

Harry, Meghan, and Prince Archie opted to spend the time in Canada with Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, instead. Their spokesperson told CNN at the time that there was nothing to it and that the couple's decision to spend the time away from the royal family was "in line with precedent set previously by other members of the royal family and has the support of Her Majesty The Queen." They were likely referring to the fact that William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales, had previously forfeited holidays at Sandringham in 2016 to spend time with Catherine's family. However, Christmas and New Year's were but the first of many royal events the Sussexes would miss.

Meghan Markle's estranged father Thomas Markle was at the center of the Sussexes' wedding drama, and as relations between the duchess and her father deteriorated, Queen Elizabeth II reportedly tried to intervene. In his book, "Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the War Between the Windsors," royal author Tom Bower claimed that the queen told Meghan to pay her father a visit in person to straighten things out. He was becoming a headache for the royal family as a whole, and the queen wanted to see the media storm die down. Meghan, however, wasn't eager to do as her majesty asked.

"The monarch did not believe that Meghan could not resolve her differences with Thomas Markle," Bower wrote (via the Daily Mail). The queen and the then-Prince Charles even tried to persuade Meghan to make an effort in a conference call. "At the outset, Charles and his mother urged Meghan to fly to America for a reconciliation." However, Meghan refused and Bower claimed that she had plenty of excuses as to why the queen's suggestion would not work, most notably that the media would be on her heels at all times, making a private conversation with her father impossible. "Her argument avoided the truth. Both Charles and the Queen realized that Meghan's excuse was far-fetched," Bower continued.

Meghan's refusal to take one for the team, so to speak, likely stung quite a bit, given that the queen reportedly went out of her way to make Meghan feel welcome when she first started dating Harry. It's said that the queen even told Meghan she was welcome to continue her acting career after joining the family, though Meghan didn't take her up on the offer.

In what was another apparent snub, Meghan Markle reportedly refused to show her wedding dress to Queen Elizabeth II ahead of her wedding. At least, this is what the queen's cousin, Lady Elizabeth Anson, told royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith. It appears the queen was curious about Meghan's dress, but the future duchess didn't want to discuss it at all, apparently. "Meghan wouldn't tell her (Queen Elizabeth II) about the wedding dress," Smith penned on her blog, "Extra Substack" (via the Mirror).

When the gown was finally revealed to the monarch (and the world) on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's wedding day, Smith reported that the queen found it "flamboyant." Royal biographer Ingrid Seward echoed these claims in her book "My Mother and I," asserting that the monarch thought the Givenchy dress "too white," adding, "In the monarch's view, it was not appropriate for a divorcée getting remarried in church to look quite so flamboyantly virginal."

In January 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced that they'd be taking a "step back" from their senior royal duties. A year later, Queen Elizabeth II would announce that the couple was leaving royal life behind for good. The statement from the palace wished the couple well but hinted that the queen wasn't exactly happy with Harry and Meghan's decision. "While all are saddened by their decision, the Duke and Duchess remain much loved members of the family," the Buckingham Palace statement read (via the BBC).

According to a column royal biographer Robert Lacey wrote for the Daily Mail in 2020, the queen and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, were "devastated" when the Sussexes first announced their plans to part ways with the royal family. Sally Bedell Smith concurred that the queen's cousin, Lady Elizabeth Anson, told her that the monarch was "saddened" by the turn of events.

Meghan rubbed salt in the queen's wounds when she and Harry did a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, which tarnished the royal family's reputation. The couple accused the Firm of racism and of refusing Meghan's request to seek mental health support while she was pregnant.

Once Meghan Markle and Prince Harry moved to the U.S., they didn't seem all that keen on returning to the U.K. for any royal events — particularly Meghan. Her absence was a hot topic during Prince Philip's funeral in 2021. The duchess missed the event, with only Harry flying to the U.K. to pay his respects to his grandfather. A palace spokesperson told People that Meghan's absence was due to her pregnancy. "[Meghan] has been advised by her physician not to travel," they said, as Meghan was in her third trimester. The COVID-19 pandemic was still in full swing, and the NHS notes that risk of going into labor increases after 37 weeks. Still, Meghan's absence wasn't a good look.

A source told People that Queen Elizabeth II harbored no anger toward the duchess regarding her absence. "Meghan expressed condolences. The Queen understands why she can't travel at the moment," a source alleged. However, in their book, "Finding Freedom," Carolyn Durand and Omid Scobie claimed that some members of the royal family were glad Meghan was skipping the funeral. "[They] didn't want a circus," the authors penned (via The Independent).

In addition to being absent from Prince Philip's funeral, Meghan Markle also missed Queen Elizabeth II's 95th birthday that same year. It was for the same reasons as her absence from Prince Philip's funeral — she wasn't allowed to travel because of her pregnancy — but what caught the public's attention was the scuttlebutt that Prince Harry would extend his stay after his grandfather's funeral to be home for his grandmother's birthday. Alas, the prince opted to jet home instead.

It would later be revealed that Harry had a meeting scheduled with American philanthropist Wallis Annenberg in Los Angeles on his grandmother's birthday. He chose to attend the meeting instead of the queen's celebrations, but one can't help but wonder whether Meghan wanted her hubby to come home early. Word on the street is that the duchess has a lot of sway over her husband. "He has to check in regularly and stick to her road trip rules, including a strict 11 p.m. curfew," a source told Radar in 2024, adding, "She keeps close tabs on what he's up to and doesn't like the idea of him out late at night."

When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry did finally return to the U.K. in 2022 for Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee, the duchess managed to snub the queen again despite being in attendance. While Harry and Meghan attended some of the festivities, they didn't stay until the end. The couple also skipped the Platinum Party, which happened to fall on the same day as their daughter Princess Lilibet's birthday. They opted to spend the day celebrating Lilibet's special day out of the public eye. The party at the palace took place in the evening, but the couple still decided to forfeit the event. Meghan and Harry also skipped a Friday lunch and an intimate family lunch the day before.

There was speculation that the Sussexes keeping a low profile was an attempt to keep the spotlight firmly on her majesty's Platinum Jubilee. Skipping a family lunch that wouldn't have been photographed anyway seems an odd way to go about it, however. The fact that they left early was also odd. One critic told the Daily Mail that they suspected staying out of the spotlight wasn't a pleasant experience for the Sussexes. "Their attitude seems to be 'if we're not centre stage we don't really want to be here,'" the detractor said. Royal biographer Angela Levin concurred, telling the outlet, "I do wonder if they [Harry and Meghan] decided: 'We've had enough of this, let's go early.' I think they were furious. I think they believed they would come back and be welcomed with open arms — but the truth is that the world, and the royal family, has moved on without them."

When Princess Lilibet was born, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had already parted ways with the royal family, so the princess met her grandmother via video call the first time. Harry and Meghan didn't exactly make haste to introduce their youngest child to the monarch in person, only doing so a year later when they attended her Platinum Jubilee in June 2022. That's a long time to wait to see your great-grandchild in person for the first time. Someone else who likely felt this deeply was King Charles III, who was reportedly elated to meet Lilibet. "He hadn't met Lilibet, his granddaughter, and so to meet her for the first time was very emotional — it was a wonderful thing," a source told People. It might be safe to assume the queen shared these sentiments.

Of course, there was also chatter that Meghan and Harry's decision to call their daughter Lilibet, which was the queen's nickname, was not approved by the monarch. The couple publicly stated that Queen Elizabeth II was happy to have her great-granddaughter bear the name, but royal author Robert Hardman claimed otherwise in his book, "Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story." According to the royal author, the queen was less than pleased and, in fact, did not give her blessing, with a palace source telling him that the queen was "as angry as I'd ever seen her" when she found out Harry and Meghan gave their daughter the name.

In what could perhaps be deemed the ultimate snub, Meghan Markle declined an invitation to King Charles III's coronation in 2023. The reason? The coronation was on the same day as Prince Archie's fourth birthday. It was a convenient excuse indeed, but there has been scuttlebutt that the duchess simply did not want to spend time in the U.K. According to Carolyn Durand and Omid Scobie's tome, "Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival," Meghan "never wants to set foot again in England" and forfeited her invitation to the coronation because she had no desire to "dive back into the soap opera" (via Marie Claire).

There were also whispers that Meghan snubbed the king because she was unhappy with his response to a letter she wrote him after she and Prince Harry made an appearance on Oprah Winfrey's show. According to reports, Meghan told the king which member of the royal family made the racist comments about her son but was disappointed by the monarch's reply, leading her to decline the invitation to Charles' coronation and leaving Harry to attend the ceremony alone.