Meghan Markle annoyed the Queen on her wedding day by ignoring specific royal protocol, book claims….Read More

The Queen may have modernised many aspects of the monarchy during her 70-year reign, but she could still be a traditionalist from time to time.

One such occasion was when the late monarch allegedly expressed her disapproval of Meghan Markle opting to wear a veil at her wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018.

Royal author Tom Bower claimed Her Majesty raised her concerns in his 2022 book Revenge, writing: ‘The Queen also questioned why Meghan needed a veil for the wedding, given it was to be her second marriage.’

The late Queen was also allegedly taken aback at the divorcee’s choice of a white bridal gown, which typically represents virginal purity.

Meghan had previously been married to Hollywood film producer Trevor Engelson between 2011 and 2013.

Queen Camilla, who had previously been married to Andrew Parker Bowles between 1973 and 1995, stuck with tradition and opted not to wear a veil for her wedding to Charles in 2005.

But Meghan forwent subtlety when it came to her veil for the grand service in the historic St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

The 16ft-long piece of material was trimmed with lace depicting flora from each of the 53 Commonwealth countries.

Fashion designer Clare Waight Keller, then of Givenchy, who worked alongside Meghan on the £100,000 dress said she wanted to create a ‘timeless piece’ but also ‘convey modernity’.

She said: ‘In contrast, the delicate floral beauty of the veil was a vision Meghan and I shared, a special gesture embracing the commonwealth flora, ascending the circumference of the silk tulle.’

The gown and veil were created after 3,900 hours of work by 50 people, with the dressmakers having to regularly wash their hands to avoid discolouring the material.

The veil was held in place by Queen Mary’s diamond bandeau tiara, which was made in 1932 and lent to Meghan by the late Queen.

But the decision to wear such an eye-catching veil for her second wedding appeared to raise eyebrows with the more traditional royals.

The practice of brides wearing veils is said to go back to ancient Greeks and Romans, who wore them to disguise themselves from any evil spirits who wanted to stand in the way of their happiness.

Over the centuries many cultures have embraced the garment and it is now often associated with aspects of bridal virtue like modesty and chastity.

Recalling the dress for a Windsor Castle exhibition on the wedding, Meghan said: ‘I had a very clear vision of what I wanted for the day and what I wanted the dress to look like.

So what was amazing in working with Clare [Waight Keller] is that sometimes you’ll find designers try to push you in a different direction. But she just completely respected what I wanted to see for the day, and she wanted to bring that to life for me.’

But the elaborate veil was not the only controversy that arose from Meghan’s choices for her bridal gown.

The late Queen never voiced her true opinion about the duchess to anyone except her very closest confidantes, including Lady Elizabeth Anson.

Known as Liza to her friends, she was a cousin of the Queen, and used to speak on the telephone to the monarch on a daily basis.

Lady Elizabeth told royal author Ingrid Seward that the Queen had made only one remark to her about Meghan and Harry’s wedding, which was that the bride’s Givenchy wedding gown was ‘too white’.

She wrote in her February 2024 book My Mother and I: ‘In the monarch’s view, it was not appropriate for a divorcee getting remarried in church to look quite so flamboyantly virginal.’

Her husband, Prince Phillip, would also go on to make comparisons between Meghan and Wallis Simpson, the American divorcee who Edward VIII abdicated to marry.

Seward claims he was ‘one of the few wary’ of being charmed by Meghan and thought it was ‘uncanny’ how much she reminded him of the socialite Simpson.

Although twice-divorced Simpson did not opt to wear white when she married Edward in 1937, instead choosing pale blue.