Queen Elizabeth II's secretary says she was 'dumbfounded' by Meghan Markle's claims
Topics: Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Royal Family, The Queen, UK News
Rhianna Benson
Featured Image Credit: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
Topics: Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Royal Family, The Queen, UK News
One of Queen Elizabeth's longest-serving secretaries has admitted to feeling 'dumbfounded' by Meghan Markle's exposé of the British monarchy.
Ailsa Anderson, who worked as the late Queen's press secretary for over 13 years, recently reflected on a number of the damning claims made by Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry.
As a reminder, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped down from their positions as senior working royals in 2020, two years after tying the knot. At the same time, the couple fled from the UK to the US, where they've lived ever since.
Their double decision, Meghan and Harry claimed at the time, had been spurred by severe mistreatment by several senior members of the monarchy.
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Through their titular Netflix documentary, Harry's scandalous memoir Spare, and their joint 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, the couple made a number of shocking allegations against the Prince's family.
They accused his brother and sister-in-law, Prince William and Kate Middleton, of having bullied Meghan during the run-up to their 2018 wedding, and alleged Harry's stepmother, Queen Camilla, had stories to the paper on their romance.
Even more shocking was the pair recalled another lead royal allegedly raising queries about the skin colour of their son, Prince Archie.
"So we had in tandem the conversation of he won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title, and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he is born," Meghan, 44, told Oprah.
Speaking on the Channel 5 program, Harry & Meghan: Has America Had Enough?, this week, Anderson admitted she was dumbfounded after catching wind of this allegation in particular.
"This was not the monarch I recognised," she began, referring to Queen Elizabeth, who died in 2022. "I worked for the late Queen for almost 13 years. I have never ever heard any utterings, in private or in public, of anything of a racial nature, ever.
"Absolutely ever. So I was dumbfounded… I really was."
Anderson also addressed another comment made by Meghan five years ago, in which the mother-of-two claims she was given 'strict instructions' from palace aides about the colours she was permitted to wear while fulfilling royal duties.
"When those queries and doubts start creeping in, the public starts doubting everything else you are talking about," Anderson hit back. "It’s a gradual erosion of her credibility."
Despite ongoing tensions between Harry and his immediate family, she insisted, however, that reconciliation is still possible.
"I don’t think it’s too late for them. I mean, who would have thought President Trump was going to be president again?" Anderson asked. "The world is a very forgiving place. They haven’t murdered anyone.
"If they can’t find a place in America, where can they find a place?"