Meghan Markle has something in common with Prince Philip – they both felt disrespected and belittled by palace officials when they married their royal husbands.
The Prince felt he was treated as an “outsider” and “patronized” when he married then-Princess Elizabeth, just as Markle says she was treated when she married Prince Harry.
“Life at the court was very frustrating for him at first. It was very stuffy, ‘said Lord Brabourne, a relative of Philips, according to Ingrid Seward in her book’ My Husband and I: The Inside Story of the Royal Marriage. ‘
Courtiers weren’t too keen on Philip from the start. Despite the fact that he was distantly related to the Queen, they didn’t like that he was born in Greece and thus foreign, Seward wrote.
Tommy Lascelles (private secretary to the king) was impossible. They were bloody to him. They patronized him. They treated him like an outsider. It wasn’t much fun, ”she noted.
He laughed it off, of course, but it must have hurt. I’m not sure Princess Elizabeth noticed. She probably hasn’t seen it. “
But the queen, who fell in love with Philip at the age of 13, was not interested in what palace officials thought. The couple married in 1947.
At the time, courtiers and high-ranking members of the royal household wielded tremendous influence and power.
Prince Philip, who was famous for what he thought and was not happy with fools, was resented by palace advisers who found him “abrasive and rude.”
He knew he was going to the lions’ den. He was very aware of the way he had been treated and how hard he would have to fight for his position and his independence (against the establishment). What he didn’t know was how terrifying it was going to be, ”said Philip’s cousin, Lady Pamela Hicks, according to Seward’s book.
When Elizabeth’s father died unexpectedly in 1952, making her the sovereign ruler at the age of 25, Philip turned the world upside down. He was forced to give up his career in the Navy and secure a new position for himself.
“Philip was constantly squashed, snubbed, ticked off, tapped over his knuckles,” said Mike Parker, the Duke’s former private secretary, according to the Express newspaper. It was excruciating. The problem was simply that Philip had energy, had ideas, got up, and that didn’t fit the establishment, not at all. “
And like her grandfather-in-law, Meghan Markle’s troubles with the palace started almost immediately after she and Prince Harry got married in May 2018.
There were rumors that the former “Suits” star emailed her staff at 5am with ideas on how to shape her role and was accused of “destroying the royal playbook”.
And just as Philip was criticized for his disrespect and non-British background, so was Markle.
Royal pundit Camilla Tominey told The New Yorker that the nasty rift between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex with the Royal Family was created by the California resident’s ‘clash’ with the palace staff who hated her perceived disrespect for palace traditions and that they mistrusted her Hollywood. background.
“I’ve attributed it to a clash of cultures, in the sense that she came from a world of celebrities, which is very fast and quite demanding,” said Tominey. “The royal world is very different – it has to be slower and hugely hierarchical.”
Days before the now California-based couple’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, the palace claimed that Markle had bullied staff during her time as a working royal at Kensington Palace – something her office has firmly denied.