Queen Elizabeth & Meghan Markle Have a Close Bond For This Surprising Reason

Louisa Ballhaus
Updated

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One of the most endearing things about Meghan Markle is her close relationship with Queen Elizabeth II. However you feel about these ladies, it’s hard to look at pictures of the two without cracking a smile. A commentator Queen Elizabeth doesn’t want Meghan to feel alienated like Princess Diana did, and that’s why she’s made such an effort to reach out to the Duchess. We’d like to think they also genuinely enjoy each other’s company — but it’s very sweet to think that the Queen remembers Diana’s distress and is actively working to make sure Meghan doesn’t suffer in a similar way. Who says the royal family doesn’t stick together?!

According to royal commentator Duncan Larcombe, the Queen has interacted far more with Meghan than she typically does with those who marry into the royal family — and he suspects her memory of Princess Diana’s estrangement is the reason why. “The Queen last year in the first few months of Meghan’s entry into the royal family, made a particular and slightly unusual effort to welcome her in,” Larcombe posits. “Possibly because Meghan very much burst onto the scene in a way Kate obviously didn’t […] Also possibly because of the lessons of the past where Princess Diana pretty much felt like an outsider in the royal family.”

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Princess Diana married Prince Harry’s father, Prince Charles in 1981, and the couple formally split in 1996. Much like Meghan, Diana was the subject of much media speculation once she joined the royal family, and was plagued by paparazzi up until the moment of her death. This was no doubt worsened by feeling she had no one to turn to within the royal family itself — her former secretary, Patrick Jepsen, told Yahoo’s Royal Box earlier this year that Diana had “felt that she was an outsider, that she had been excluded.”

Meghan’s arrival into the royal family is more similar to Diana’s than Kate Middleton’s, Larcombe points out. In Kate’s case, “everyone got to know Kate and the family long before they got engaged.” Meghan, on the other hand, was more of a mystery. “Meghan seems to have forged a particularly close relationship with the Queen,” Larcombe concludes, noting that Meghan was extended an invitation to ride on the Royal Train with the Queen, while Kate was not. Perhaps the Queen sees something of Diana in Meghan — or heck, maybe Meghan even reminds her of herself. We think it’s sweet that the Queen is looking out for her in any case, and we’ll support this friendship whatever the reason.

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