Queen made 'startling' remark about Meghan Markle a month before her death

The late made a comment about that floored everyone at a Palace reception, a source has sensationally alleged.

Just a month before her death at the age of 96, the late monarch reportedly branded her granddaughter-in-law "evil" as the relationship between the Sussexes and the Firm reached an all-time low. Seeming "regretful" that had stepped down as a working royal and moved his young family to California, the Queen is said to have described Meghan in a way that saw “everybody’s eyebrows hit the ceiling”. She allegedly made the comments during a drinks reception at Balmoral in August of last year.

“It was out of character for the Queen to use such a word as 'evil' to describe Meghan, but she saw straight through her. It was a startling sentence to hear from the most forgiving woman on earth,” the source told the Spectator. “At the drinks before the dinner, a small group were talking to the monarch and she explained that Harry meeting Meghan had become a complete catastrophe and described her as evil. By this point, we all knew the Queen’s health was in decline and she had months left, she seemed regretful about how things had panned out.”

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Harry and Meghan had made a number of serious allegations about the , including claims of racism over their son Archie's skin colour and that Meghan had not been shown support while struggling with suicidal thoughts. Harry's memoir Spare, published earlier this year, further widened the rift as he detailed his own feelings of alienation as a royal and made even more bombshell allegations, including that his own brother William had assaulted him during an argument.

However Meghan has always spoken highly of the Queen, saying the two enjoyed a "lovely and easy" friendship. "The Queen has always been wonderful to me," she told Oprah Winfrey in the couple's famous 2021 sit-down interview. "I've loved being in her company. She's always been warm, welcoming, and inviting." She was seen in tears at Her Majesty's funeral last year.

Meghan said: "There's been such an outpouring of love and support. I'm really grateful that I was able to be with my husband to support him, especially during that time. What's so beautiful is to look at the legacy that his grandmother was able to leave on so many fronts. Certainly, in terms of female leadership, she is the most shining example of what that looks like.

"I feel deep gratitude to have been able to spend time with her and get to know her. It's been a complicated time, but my husband, ever the optimist, said, 'Now she's reunited with her husband'. I've reflected on that first official engagement that I had with her, and how special that felt. I feel fortunate. And I continue to be proud to have had a nice warmth with the matriarch of the family."