Prince Philip is said to have expressed rare caution over Meghan Markle long before she married into the British Royal Family, reportedly warning his grandson Prince Harry against rushing into marriage with an actress.
According to claims cited in the book Entitled by royal historian Andrew Lownie, Prince Philip offered Harry a blunt piece of advice after the couple became engaged in 2017.
“One steps out with actresses, one does not marry them,” Philip is said to have told his grandson.
Early reservations from the Duke of Edinburgh
Royal author Ingrid Seward, in her 2024 book My Mother and I, Philip, also writes that the Duke of Edinburgh was among the very few senior royals who showed early reservations about Meghan Markle from the moment she began dating Harry in 2016.
Seward claims Philip even drew a comparison between Meghan and Wallis Simpson — the American divorcée for whom King Edward VIII famously abdicated the throne in 1937, triggering one of the greatest constitutional crises in royal history.
Edward’s marriage to Wallis lasted until his death in 1972, but his decision to marry her permanently altered the monarchy.
Silence from Palace and Sussex camp
Representatives for Meghan Markle and Buckingham Palace declined to comment when approached by Page Six regarding the reported remarks.
Despite his reservations, Prince Philip attended Harry and Meghan’s wedding at Windsor Castle in May 2018, alongside Queen Elizabeth II.
According to former royal butler Grant Harrold, Philip was overheard making a pointed remark as he left St George’s Chapel, turning to the Queen and saying:
“Thank God that’s over.”
Megxit — and Philip’s decision to step back
In January 2020, Harry and Meghan announced their decision to step away from royal duties and relocate to North America with their children, Archie and Lilibet.
By that stage, Philip was said to have refused to intervene. According to reports, he told the Queen that he would not involve himself further, remarking that he would “soon no longer be around anyway.”
Disapproval without interference
Although Prince Philip reportedly disagreed with Harry and Meghan’s choices, biographer Gyles Brandreth has said that the Duke still believed in personal freedom.
Philip, Brandreth noted, accepted that “people have a right to live their lives as they see fit,” even when he personally disapproved of their decisions.
However, Philip is said to have been deeply unimpressed by Harry and Meghan’s 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, later describing it as “madness.”
During that interview, Meghan claimed royal life was “almost unsurvivable,” admitted to having suicidal thoughts, and alleged that a member of the Royal Family had expressed concern about Archie’s skin colour before his birth — comments that sparked global controversy and ongoing debate.
A final chapter
Prince Philip passed away in April 2021 at the age of 99.
Queen Elizabeth II died just over a year later, aged 96.
In hindsight, royal historians now argue that Philip’s early warnings reflected a lifetime of institutional instinct — shaped by decades of service and an acute awareness of how personal relationships can reshape the monarchy.
Whether his concerns were prophetic or merely traditional caution remains a matter of debate.
But for many royal watchers, the Duke of Edinburgh’s words now read less like prejudice — and more like a warning history has seen before.