Queen Elizabeth's Private Verdict On Meghan Markle's 'Narcissistic Traits' Revealed

Queen Elizabeth's private view of Meghan Markle has been revealed in fresh claims from royal author Robert Hardman, who says palace insiders believed the late monarch came to see 'narcissistic behaviour' in the Duchess of Sussex after early efforts to help her settle into royal life were, in their words, 'torn up'.

Elizabeth II died in September 2022 and never publicly criticised Meghan or Prince Harry. Harry has repeatedly said his grandmother remained one of the few senior royals with whom he and Meghan always had a strong bond. The new claims come from Hardman's book Elizabeth II, which draws on unnamed figures from the Queen's inner circle, and from his appearance on Newsweek's The Royal Report podcast.

How Queen Elizabeth's View Of Meghan Markle Allegedly Shifted

Hardman says the Queen's attitude towards Meghan began warmly. Speaking on The Royal Report, he said Elizabeth was 'actually delighted' by Harry's future wife and went out of her way to welcome her into royal life.

He pointed to the speed with which Meghan was brought into official duties. Hardman said old conventions about not inviting girlfriends or even fiancées to major royal events before marriage were set aside in her case. By December 2017, several months before the wedding, Meghan had already carried out her first official engagement.

The Queen also tried to give Meghan a secure place within the institution through carefully chosen patronages. Hardman highlighted the National Theatre as one of the clearest examples, given Meghan's background as an actor.

According to Hardman, those efforts were first embraced and then abandoned. 'These efforts were initially embraced by the [Sussexes] and then just sort of torn up,' he said on the podcast. In palace terms, the complaint was not simply that plans changed, but that a carefully prepared path had been rejected.

Hardman says that was when the mood around Meghan began to shift. What started as enthusiasm turned into frustration, and eventually, according to his sources, a belief that the Queen felt she had been let down by both Harry and Meghan.

In the book, Hardman quotes one senior insider as saying: 'The Queen had seen plenty of narcissists in her life.' He also said on the podcast that many around the monarch believed she thought Meghan was, by the end, showing 'narcissistic tendencies'.

Hardman was careful to note that Elizabeth was 'famously good at concealing her true thoughts'. That means the account rests not on the Queen's own words, but on the interpretations of aides and insiders who believed they understood her private feelings.

Oprah, California And The Sense Of A Long Game

The most explosive part of Hardman's account comes in the shadow of Harry and Meghan's March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey. In that interview, Meghan said there had been 'concerns and conversations' within the royal household about how dark her unborn child's skin might be.

Hardman says some inside the palace later viewed both the interview and Oprah's earlier presence at the royal wedding in a different light. He writes that one senior aide looked back and concluded that 'the business of having Oprah at the wedding now made sense'.

That remark carries a clear implication. It suggests some in royal circles came to believe Meghan had been planning a public reckoning long before the couple stepped back from royal duties. It is that interpretation, rather than any direct statement from the Queen, that feeds into the broader claim about 'narcissistic' behaviour.

Hardman also includes a more sympathetic assessment from the same source. According to the book, the Queen had initially been very sympathetic to Meghan and to the difficulties surrounding her family, particularly her strained relationship with her father, Thomas Markle.

That sympathy, Hardman suggests, faded over time. After Harry and Meghan moved to California and gave the Oprah interview, one insider told him it was 'starting to look like the move to California had been a plan all along'.

A Private Verdict That Can No Longer Be Challenged

The force of Hardman's account lies partly in the fact that the Queen can no longer confirm or challenge it. Meghan and Harry are left facing a portrait of Elizabeth as privately disappointed and increasingly sceptical, but one that rests entirely on accounts from unnamed insiders.

It also matters that the claims come from a mainstream royal biographer rather than one of Meghan's louder critics. That gives the story a different tone, even if the underlying allegation remains just as contentious.

There are still obvious limits to what can be known. It is unclear how many aides spoke to Hardman, how close they were to the Queen's personal thinking, or whether their descriptions reflected genuine insight or institutional frustration with the Sussexes.

What Hardman's account does underline is the gap between the affectionate public image Harry and Meghan often presented of Elizabeth and the more disappointed private figure described by his sources. If those sources are right, the relationship began with warmth and flexibility but ended with a monarch who felt badly let down and was far less inclined to give Meghan the benefit of the doubt.