The late prince Philip, husband of late British queen Elizabeth II, had ‘a spiteful’ nickname for Meghan Markle, as revealed in an excerpt from an upcoming book by royal biographer Ingrid Seward.
Philip, who passed away at the age of 99 in 2021, referred to Meghan Markle as the “Duchess of Windsor”, in a reference to the controversial American socialite Wallis Simpson, a US divorcée, who married Edward VIII in 1937 after he abdicated the British throne in a cloud of controversy.
Edward VIII was Elizabeth’s uncle and sibling of her father George VI. His abdication paved the way for Elizabeth to assume the role of the queen of England.
Seward claims in her new book “My Mother And I” that Phillip thought it was “uncanny” how much Markle reminded him of Simpson. “He wasn’t simply referring to the fact that both were pencil-slim, dark-haired and glamorous American divorcées,” she writes.
Similar to Wallis Simpson, Meghan Markle was divorced before meeting Prince Harry in 2016. Markle had been previously married to film producer Trevor Engelson. Engelson and Markle ended their marriage in 2014.
Ingrid Seward’s book also claims that queen Elizabeth initially had a positive impression of Markle, reportedly approving of the actress after being introduced to her by Harry in 2017.
Queen Elizabeth also felt that Meghan Markle’s wedding dress was “too white” as she was married before.
In January 2020, Meghan and Harry stepped back as senior members of the royal family and relocated to Montecito, California, similar to how after Edward VIII abdicated the British throne left for France with Wallis Simpson to live together.
In 2022, royal expert Hugo Vickers pointed out Harry shares similarities with Edward VIII. He said that both of them emanated a sense of sadness after severing ties with the royal family. Speaking at the Henley Literary Festival, Vickers said the resemblance between Harry and Edward could be spotted by merely looking into their eyes.
Vickers said Harry is also more like Edward VIII than he might realise.
“(Harry, like Edward) took the path of perceived happiness (when he married). (But he may not have found true happiness as) in the end, it’s duty that makes you happy. As for the Duke of Sussex, who knows what’s going to happen to him? I think he looks thoroughly miserable,” Vickers said.
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