Meghan's childhood friend was worried royal family would be mean

Meghan Markle recently voiced her complaints about being treated unfairly by Buckingham Palace, and now a childhood friend has revealed that they always feared it would happen.

Simone Burns Dilley, a high school friend of the Duchess of Sussex, said that she had mixed emotions when Meghan announced her decision to marry Britain's Prince Harry. On one hand, she was "excited" for her friend, but on the other hand, she was skeptical about how she will be treated by the British media and the palace.

In a new episode of "E! True Hollywood Story" which aired on Monday, Dilley said: "We were excited for her, but...at the same time, I was worried. She was divorced, she's half-Black. I was like, 'Oh, my God. They're gonna be so mean to her.'"

Paul Burrell, who served as a butler for the late Princess Diana, said in the episode: "Meghan came from a different continent. She was of mixed-race, an American, an actress, and she was a divorcee. It was impossible for her."

The "Suits" alum was previously married to movie producer Trevor Engelson, and up until the last generation, marrying a divorcée was next to impossible for a British royal. It was only in 2002 that the Anglican Church started permitting marriage to divorced persons with a living former spouse, but up until then, Queen Elizabeth II couldn't have allowed Harry and Meghan's marriage as she is also the head of the Church of England.

As fifth in the line of succession to the British throne, Prince Harry was required to have the consent of his grandmother for his marriage, or he would have to leave his position as a senior royal which he later did for different reasons. The same was done by the Queen's uncle, Edward VIII, who abdicated the throne to marry twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. The Queen's only sibling Princess Margaret was also not able to marry her partner Peter Townsend, a divorcé', due to the same rule.

Thankfully, Harry and Meghan didn't have to go through these complications as the rules were changed and they tied the knot in a traditional Anglican wedding ceremony, which marked the entry of the first person of mixed-race heritage into the royal family in known history.

However, throughout their relationship, engagement, and marriage, Prince Harry repeatedly raised complaints about the "abuse and harassment" Meghan was experiencing in the public eye, and pointed out "the racial undertones of comment pieces." In October 2019, just months before he and Meghan resigned as working royals, Harry said: "There comes a point when the only thing to do is to stand up to this behavior, because it destroys people and destroys lives. Put simply, it is bullying, which scares and silences people."

Most recently, Meghan claimed in her and Harry's explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey that a member of the royal family was concerned about the skin colour of her son, and that the palace didn't want to give the toddler a prince title due to his mixed-race heritage.