Meghan Markle at ‘War’ With Royal Family Over New Claims She ‘Didn’t Take Royal Life Seriously’

The bad blood was thick at the start of the year. Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle were critical of his family in their Netflix docuseries, and then Harry skewered his loved ones in his memoir, Spare. By the fall, things seemed to have calmed down – until a longtime friend of Harry’s late grandmother Queen Elizabeth II took aim at the Duchess of Sussex. “I think the thing about Meghan was, she had no idea what was expected of her really and thought it was sort of like being another actress, you know. Riding around in a golden coach and everything like that,” Anne Tennant, Baroness Glenconner, said on an October 20 podcast. “I feel very sad for Harry.”

Nearly four years after Meghan and Harry left Britain for America, “she’s back in the hot seat,” says a source. “This time, it’s the queen’s childhood friend who’s accusing her of having a skewed sense of duty.” Lady Glenconner, 91, “basically says Meghan didn’t take royal life seriously, treated it like a movie role and used it to become a bigger celebrity. It’s a devastating slam from a highly regarded insider – and it’s sparked a new war between Meghan and the royal family.”

History Repeats Itself

There were more swipes. At King Charles III’s coronation in May, Lady Glenconner sat next to former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. On the podcast, she recalled asking him what Americans think of Harry, 39, and Meghan, 42. “He said, ‘We all feel very, very sorry for Harry. I think I can just leave it at that,’” she claimed. The implication was clear: Meghan’s to blame. (A spokesperson for the former politician’s office has since said, “As a father in the public eye himself, John Kerry has nothing but empathy for people working through a family matter who all deserve privacy and compassion.”)

Harry ’s been supportive. But the Duchess of Sussex is “upset and furious” and “feels like it ’s yet another low blow aimed to assassinate her character,” claims the source, adding that Meghan “believes the royal family is loving this – especially the ‘feeling bad for harry’ comments.”