Culture

Report: Prince Philip Told Harry Dating Meghan Was OK, but Marrying Her Was Not

Steady On, Old Boy

The elderly duke is said to have delivered his young heir a brusque caution about marrying an actress. Good on Harry for ignoring him.

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Chris Jackson

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Prince Philip warned his grandson against marrying Meghan Markle, telling Prince Harry: “One steps out with actresses, one doesn’t marry them,” a new report claims.

The straight-talking nonagenarian is said to have made the comment in 2017, after Prince William had also advised Harry to think about whether he was “sure” he wanted to rush into marriage to Meghan.

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The allegations were made in a report in The Sunday Times by society journalist Sophia Money-Coutts, a former writer at Tatler and daughter of retired private banker Crispin Money-Coutts, 9th Baron Latymer. 

Harry ignored the urgings of his family and proposed to Meghan in November, six months before they married.

Other friends, such as Tom Inskip, also urged Harry to progress more slowly, and were punished by being excluded from the afterparty of Harry’s wedding.

According to sources quoted by Money-Coutts: “Anybody who voiced any kind of reservation about Meghan has been sidelined.”

She also quotes another source on the roots of the feud with his brother: “Harry felt like William and Kate didn’t make enough effort when Meghan arrived at Kensington Palace, that they didn’t roll out the red carpet for her.”

It comes as the number of likes for a sepia-toned Father’s Day image shared on the Sussex Royal Instagram account of six-week-old Archie Harrison clutching the Duke of Sussex’s finger passed the two million mark. The caption for the picture reads: “Happy Father’s Day! And wishing a very special first Father’s Day to The Duke of Sussex.”

The new image has been liked as many times as a picture of Archie’s feet posted on Mother’s Day, although an image of the queen and Meghan’s mom, Doria, gathered around the new family is heading inexorably toward three million likes.  

It has also been revealed that Archie will be christened in Windsor next month, although his godparents have not yet been announced.