“Tom Bower alleges Queen Elizabeth welcomed Meghan’s absence at Philip’s 2021 funeral”

Queen Elizabeth II made a cutting remark about Meghan Markle’s absence from Prince Philip’s funeral, according to royal biographer Tom Bower.

The Queen’s late husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, was laid to rest at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, in April 2021. Covid restrictions meant the ceremony was pared back to just 30 mourners. The enduring image from the day showed the monarch, veiled in black, sitting alone in her pew as she quietly mourned her partner of more than 70 years.

Behind the public solemnity, Bower claims, the Queen made her feelings plain when told Meghan would not be attending. “Thank goodness Meghan is not coming,” she reportedly told aides ahead of the service.

At the time, Meghan was seven months pregnant with her second child and had cited medical advice as the reason she could not travel. Prince Harry flew back from California alone, facing his family for the first time since his and Meghan’s televised interview with Oprah Winfrey had aired weeks earlier.

Operation Forth Bridge, as Philip’s funeral plans were known, had been meticulously prepared in line with his wishes for a low-key farewell. There were no lengthy eulogies or state pomp, only carefully orchestrated military precision. Covid regulations scaled the event back even further, allowing only a small gathering inside the chapel.

While the day was marked by dignity and discipline, Bower suggests the mood behind the scenes was more fraught. Harry’s return sparked speculation over how he would be received by his father and brother after months of tension. Removed from his military roles as a non-working royal, Harry was barred from wearing uniform, a visible reminder of his altered position within the monarchy.

For the Queen, Bower argues, Meghan’s absence was the greater relief. His book contends that Elizabeth had little patience for what she saw as Meghan’s disruptive presence, a feeling sharpened by the couple’s criticisms of the institution. “There was no mistaking the Queen’s dislike,” he writes.

The claim adds another layer to the long-running saga of strained relations between the Sussexes and the Royal Family. Meghan’s decision not to attend the funeral drew widespread comment at the time, with supporters pointing to genuine medical concerns, while critics accused her of avoiding an awkward confrontation.

Harry walked in the procession behind his grandfather’s coffin and later spoke briefly with Prince William and Kate outside the chapel. But the wider rift remained. In the years since, Harry has published a memoir and the couple have continued to air grievances about their treatment, deepening divisions with the monarchy.

Philip’s funeral nonetheless unfolded exactly as he had wished: a modest and tightly controlled ceremony without grandeur. For the Queen, grieving in solitude, it was both a public farewell and the end of a private partnership. According to Bower, her sharp aside about Meghan was a glimpse of the frustration she kept largely behind palace walls