Queen Elizabeth 'Urged Prince Harry to Wait' Before Marrying Meghan Markle, Royal Expert Claims
The queen wanted her grandson to wait longer before marrying Meghan Markle.
April 6 2026, Published 4:48 p.m. ET
Queen Elizabeth II was worried her grandson, Prince Harry, was rushing too fast to marry Meghan Markle, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
A new biography of the late monarch revealed that she even told Harry, 41, about her concerns and suggested he wait a year to wed the American actress, 44, after the duo announced their engagement in November 2017. It came after a whirlwind and primarily long-distance romance between Harry and Markle that began only 16 months prior.
'Harry Should Wait a Year' Before Marrying
Queen Elizabeth thought Prince Harry should have waited at least a year to marry Meghan Markle after their engagement.
"The queen herself suggested that Harry should wait a year. He did not take her advice. Instead, as we know, the wedding went ahead just over six months after the couple’s engagement," royal expert Hugo Vickers wrote in the new Queen Elizabeth II: A Personal History.
Vickers, who met the queen more than 40 times over the span of 55 years, claimed that Harry's own father, King Charles III, also had doubts about a marriage between the prince and the divorced former Suits star.
"Prince Charles took the line that Lord Mountbatten had taken with him before he started courting Diana: have fun, but don’t marry her," Vickers told the Daily Mail, referring to how the current monarch's beloved great uncle, Lord Louis "Dickie" Mountbatten, advised him against marrying Princess Diana, whom Charles barely knew at the time of their 1981 wedding.
Prince William Also Urged Harry to Pump the Brakes
Prince William served as best man in brother Prince Harry's wedding to Meghan Markle.
Several books about the royals have noted how Prince William reportedly urged Harry to slow things down with Markle, as he believed the romance was moving at warp speed.
2020's Finding Freedom claimed William felt Harry was "blinded by lust" for the California native and urged his brother, "take as much time as you need to get to know this girl," which enraged the red-headed royal.
Author Tom Bower wrote in 2022's Revenge that the future King enlisted the help of Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, to try to reason with Harry about his nephew's rushed relationship.
"Three times married, Spencer cautioned his nephew to reconsider his haste towards marriage. His advice provoked a bitter reaction. 'This was going to be really hard,' Harry would later reflect on establishing Meghan's place in the family," Bower noted.
'The Queen Did Not Like' Meghan Markle's Wedding Dress
Queen Elizabeth II reportedly was unhappy with Meghan Markle's wedding dress and it's 'ungainly shoulders.'.
As for Queen Elizabeth, not only was she unhappy that Harry seemingly rushed into marriage with Markle, the monarch thought the royal bride's wedding gown was totally inappropriate.
"It was said that the queen did not like the dress; too white and with ungainly shoulders," Vickers wrote about the blindingly white minimalist Givenchy gown designed by Clare Waight Keller which featured a wide bateau neckline that was nearly off-the-shoulder.
The Queen Wanted Drama of Prince Harry's Wedding Over
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Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip are seen at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
By that point, the queen had reportedly been put through the wringer by the couple in the lead-up to the wedding, going to far as to instruct her staff to "ignore" Harry's phone calls that Markle get a priceless diamond tiara delivered to her so she could to a hairstyle test with it.
"Someone close to the monarch told me her attitude to the actual wedding was: 'You get on with it. It’s nothing to do with me,'" Vickers claimed.
