When Prince Harry first introduced Meghan Markle to his mother’s side of the family, it didn’t go at all as planned according to one royal author. The biographer claims that Harry was hoping that Princess Diana’s sisters would see the similarities between Meghan and the late Princess of Wales, but that’s not how things turned out.
“Harry assumed that Diana’s family and friends would see a similarity between Diana and his fiancée,” Tom Bower wrote in his book Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the War Between the Windsors, (via the Mirror). “Both, he said, shared the same problems. He was so disappointed.”
According to Tom: “No one agreed that his vulnerable mother had anything in common with his girlfriend. More discomforting for him, they thought Meghan would not fit in with the Royal Family.”
Diana grew up with three siblings, all of whom are still alive today: Cynthia Jane, known as Lady Jane Fellowes; Elizabeth Sarah Lavinia, known as Lady Sarah McCorquodale; and Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer. The latter walked with Prince William, Prince Harry, the then-Prince Charles and Prince Philip behind Diana’s coffin in 1997. But the Spencers seemingly missing the similarities between Diana and Meghan didn’t change Harry’s mind about her. In the 2022 docu-series Harry & Meghan, the Duke of Sussex said: “So much of what Meghan is, and how she is, is so similar to my mum. She has the same compassion, she has the same empathy, she has the same confidence. She has this warmth about her.”
After the documentary was released, a body language expert confirmed that Harry was being incredibly sincere while saying this. “When Harry was speaking about Meghan, I did not see any signs of deceptive behaviour or that he was faking his emotions for the cameras,” Darren Stanton told Fashion’s Digest UK at the time. “His body language and behaviour seems to be totally congruent with what he is thinking. From his non-verbal communication, it’s apparent that he truly believes Meghan is similar to Diana.”
Despite the Spencers’ view on it all, the Duchess of Sussex has continually paid tribute to her late mother-in-law for years, honouring her legacy and her husband’s memory of his mother. Meghan nodded to Diana with her impressive cathedral wedding veil, and has also honoured her in subtle ways through her podcast, her TV show, and her fashion.