The Queen’s cousin was not convinced that Meghan Markle was in love with Prince Harry before they married and warned that she ‘could turn into nothing but trouble’, it was claimed today.
Lady Elizabeth Anson, a great-niece of the Queen Mother and a goddaughter of King George VI, was apparently suspicious of the former Suits star’s motives on the eve of the royal wedding in May 2018.
Lady Elizabeth, who was Her Majesty’s party-planner and confidant for many years, 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 was also worried that Meghan was ‘brighter’ and ‘stronger’ than Harry, and warned: ‘Meghan is clearly brighter than Harry, but she has to be careful not to overshadow him’.
Her words have been revealed by journalist and royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith in her Substack ‘Royal Extras’, describing her private conversations with Lady Elizabeth, who was fondly called Liza by friends.
Ms Bedell Smith claims that Liza feared Meghan was manipulating Harry, and said: ‘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’.
Liza claimed that Meghan was ‘full of charm’ and appeared ‘natural, intelligent, and thoughtful’ after she became engaged to Harry in 2017.
But as the wedding came closer, Liza claimed that both Harry and Meghan upset the Queen. Harry was apparently ‘rude’ to his grandmother for ten minutes in one meeting. Meghan allegedly refused to share details of her dress with the monarch.
Liza apparently told Ms Bedell Smith at the time: ‘I don’t trust Meghan an inch. Meghan could turn into nothing but trouble’.
The Queen’s cousin claimed that she feared Meghan may not have been in love with Harry, who she said was ‘neither bright nor strong’
The Queen felt left out of planning and also was not ‘content’ with some of the decisions made, a new article has claimed
Meghan allegedly became increasingly ‘bossy’ and Liza said the Queen was privately ‘very worried’ and at times, upset, it has been claimed
Lady Elizabeth Anson, pictured left in red behind the Queen, was not only Elizabeth’s cousin, but one of her closest friends, having supported the monarch through the deaths of her mother, the Queen Mother, and sister, Princess Margaret
Two of the Queen’s cousins praised Kate when she married William
A spokesman for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex declined to comment on the claims made by Sally Bedell Smith.
But a source close to the couple dismissed the sensational claims as ‘just gossip’.
Ms Bedell Smith said that the royals were much more fond of Prince William’s wife – and their wedding day in 2011.
She wrote on her Substack: ‘Liza described it as a “wonderfully beautiful and understated service, and the church was filled with people who loved them both. There was huge joy. Kate wore the perfect dress for the Abbey, and the Queen couldn’t be missed because she was in bright yellow. At the reception in Buckingham Palace, the flowers looked like they came from the garden. I am overwhelmed by how that family works rooms. Kate did it brilliantly. She was fantastic with perfect strangers. I watched her”.’
Ms Bedell Smith also revealed the words of another of the Queen’s cousins, Margaret Rhodes, who described how well Kate worked the room during the reception.
‘Even talking to palpably boring people, she was intently looking at them and not taking her eyes off their faces. She is going to be a really good addition to the family’, she said.
Yesterday MailOnline revealed how the Queen’s cousin claimed that Prince Harry ‘blew’ his relationship with Queen Elizabeth II as he prepared to marry Meghan Markle, who also upset the monarch by refusing to reveal what her wedding dress looked like.
Her Majesty was said to have been ‘very worried’ about her ‘besotted and weak’ grandson and became aggrieved about some of their decisions about the ceremony at Windsor in May 2018.
The Queen apparently confided in her first cousin that Harry was ‘rude to her for ten minutes’ in one meeting and that ‘Meghan and William and Kate were not working well’ together, adding that it was ‘particularly…the two girls’ who didn’t get on.
The ‘jury was out’ on whether the Queen really liked her grandson’s then bride-to-be, it was claimed today, and she felt ‘left out’ of the planning for the wedding by Harry who tried to ‘patch up’ their relationship in the weeks before walking down the aisle.
The Queen was also reportedly concerned about the relationship between Meghan and Harry’s brother and sister-in-law
She died five years ago at the age of 79 and was the Queen’s confidante later in life, affectionately calling the monarch ‘Jemima’ and her ‘Number One Lady’.
Ms Bedell Smith has revealed what Liza claimed Queen Elizabeth II herself thought of the Sussexes and their behaviour.
As the wedding approached, Meghan allegedly became increasingly ‘bossy’ and Liza said the Queen was privately ‘very worried’.
Ms Bedell 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.
The cracks apparently appeared in February 2018. Liza claimed Harry wrote to her and said that his grandmother was ‘content’ with the way the wedding plans were coming along.
Lady Elizabeth Anson, known as Liza, apparently claimed that Harry had to see his grandmother alone to ‘patch up’ their relationship, it has been claimed
But Sally Bedell Smith wrote that Liza had said: ‘When I spoke with the Queen, she said she is not at all content’.
Ms Bedell 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.”.’
Liza at this point predicted that Meghan could ‘turn into nothing but trouble’, remarking that the Suits actress ‘sees things in a different way’.
Following these February rows, towards the end of April, Liza claimed that “the Queen and Harry have patched things up’.
Harry apparently visited her alone to smooth things over and later wrote to with more wedding details.
Sally Bedell 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.”
‘My Jemima is very worried’, Liza apparently added.
She also said ominously: ‘The wedge between the brothers is really too bad’.
Lady Elizabeth, known as Liza to her friends, died in November 2020 at the age of 79, just shy of two years before Queen Elizabeth passed away in September 2022. Pictured in 1969
Thomas Markle did not attend the wedding due to health problems. Harry’s father walked her down the aisle. Meghan threw herself into royal duties with her husband and then fell pregnant.
Sally Bedell Smith wrote on her Substack: ‘By late February 2019 when Liza and I spoke on the phone, she said “I don’t trust Meghan an inch. To begin with, she was not bad—a straightforward starlet, used to public speaking and charity work. The wedge between the brothers is really too bad.”.’
At that time the Queen would visit her cousin for dinner at her London home but an increasingly frail Prince Philip would stay at home.
Liza became ill with lung cancer but continued to work despite breathing problems and spent time with the Queen, who made her a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order – an honour only given to those who have given outstanding personal service to a British monarch. She died in November 2020.
MailOnline has asked a spokesman for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to comment.
Lady Elizabeth Anson was born at Windsor Castle during World War II and with King George VI as a godfather, she grew up surrounded by, and on first name terms with, the royals.
Lady Elizabeth was also royally connected (her mother, a Bowes-Lyon, was a niece of the Queen Mother) but she was also one of the Queen’s closest friends.
When she married, the then 20-year-old Princess Anne was a bridesmaid, and her society cameraman brother Patrick (the Earl of) Lichfield, who gave her away, was — along with the Earl of Snowdon — the royals’ go-to photographer.
For almost 60 years she presided over London’s party scene with a ruthless efficiency. From royalty to celebrity her business, Party Planners, organised the capital’s best and most lavish celebrations.
She first decided to be a party planner when she was 17. She was working as a receptionist at the Hyde Park Hotel in London, but she fell down a flight of stairs and injured herself.
A never-heard-before nickname used by Queen Elizabeth’s cousin has been revealed. Pictured, Lady Elizabeth Anson
The fall meant she needed to find a job that would enable her to work from home, and was inspired at having to organise her own debutante party when she realised she could make a living from planning celebrations.
Her first event was for the late Queen Mother. ‘She was hosting a party for one of her godchildren,’ Lady Elizabeth previously told Mail on Sunday. ‘I remember charging very little and receiving a letter from the Queen Mother telling me to double the invoice.’
She hosted bashes for everyone from Baroness Thatcher and Sir Mick Jagger, to Tom Cruise and Bill Clinton. Weddings were a speciality: there was pop star Sting’s to Trudie Styler to the slightly more reserved nuptials for Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece (to heiress Chantal Miller).
When Prince William married Kate Middleton in 2011, the Queen asked her to organise a party for all the visiting royal guests.
By then she was a veteran of royal party planning. No palace event, it seemed, was complete without input from Lady Elizabeth. She arranged the Queen’s 80th birthday party and that to mark the 50th anniversary of her coronation.
In April 2021, the Queen made Lady Elizabeth a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order as a sign of her personal esteem.
