Camila Felt ‘Meghan Was an Adventuress’ While Escaping Media Storm with Her at Castle of Mey, Book Claims

At one point, Duchess Camilla and Prince Charles escaped the media’s scrutiny over Duchess Meghan’s father’s negative coverage by visiting the Scottish royal castle. It was during that time that Camilla made her assessment of Harry’s new wife.

In July 2022, several reports stated that the Queen had asked her grandson, Prince Harry, and his wife, Duchess Meghan, to join her at her Balmoral castle for the summer as her guests. According to The Sun, the Scottish estates’ staff members already worked on accommodating the pair.

The publication claimed the staff was told to expect many Royal Family members during her annual summer break. Some of the people they were to expect included Meghan and Harry and their two children, son Archie and daughter Lilibet.

Duchess Meghan, Prince Harry, and Queen Elizabeth II at the Queen’s Young Leaders Award Ceremony at Buckingham Palace on June 26, 2018, in London, England. | Source: Getty Images

The Sun alleged that the monarch’s offer would’ve allowed the Sussexes, based in California in the US, to spend some time with her without other senior royals. The publication noted how the couple had strained relationships with other senior family members.

While vacationing in the highlands, the Queen would be visited by relatives, Irish dignitaries, and other senior royals. Since relocating to the US in 2020, the Sussexes have made sparse visits to Harry’s homeland.

Before June 2022’s Platinum Jubilee visit, Harry and Meghan secretly visited the Queen and Prince Charles in April 2022. At the time, the couple was on their way to the Invictus Games, which were held in the Netherlands.

However, in July 2022, Page Six released an exclusive and contradictory report stating that the Sussexes were not on the Queen’s guest list. Whether the Sussexes will or will not visit the Queen in Scotland, the pair once lived under the same roof with other royals.

HARRY AND MEGHAN’S FORMER RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER SENIOR ROYAL FAMILY MEMBERS

Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry visit Te Papaiouru Marae for a formal powhiri and luncheon on October 31, 2018, in Rotorua, New Zealand. | Source: Getty Images

After Harry and Meghan married, they lived under the same roof with other royal relatives for a short period. The couple mingled with other family members in the summer of the year they tied the knot by going on a Scottish retreat.

The Sussexes joined Harry’s father, Prince Charles, and his wife, Duchess Camilla, at the Castle of Mey, where the older couple stayed yearly each August. The home on Scotland’s north coast was formerly owned by the Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth.

Prince Charles and his wife, Duchess Camilla, at Crathie Church on April 9, 2006, in Ballater, Scotland. | Source: Getty Images

Meghan and her husband stayed with the older couple for several days in August 2018. The remote castle in Caithness was a place for them to find refuge from the media’s prying eyes after the Duchess of Sussex’s father, Thomas Markle, attracted negative attention.

Thomas took several interviews where he criticized the Royal Family and his estranged daughter. He alleged they’d “cut him off” after collaborating with the paparazzi before his daughter’s May 2018 wedding.

Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan visit Abel Tasman National Park on October 29, 2018, in Wellington, New Zealand. | Source: Getty Images

The Castle of Mey was four and a half hours from the Royal Family’s other Scottish residences, Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire. It was on Mey’s lands and was built between 1566 and 1572.

The lands belonged to the Bishops of Caithness, and its name was changed to Barrogill Castle from the Castle of Mey after the Queen Mother fell in love with it in 1952. She came across it while visiting friends as she mourned the death of her husband, George VI.

The Queen Mother during the Braemar gathering held in Scotland on September 2, 2000. | Source: Getty Images

When the Queen Mother heard its owners wished to have the Birkhall castle abandoned, she declared it “part of Scotland’s heritage” and vowed: “I’ll save it.” It was in disrepair when she bought it and renovated it.

She restored its interiors and the 30 acres of gardens and parklands. The Queen Mother also changed its name back to the original one, and in 1996 she gave it as a gift to the charitable trust that currently runs the estate.

Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, William Shawcross in the garden at Birkhall on September 2, 2009, in Balmoral Estate, Scotland. | Source: Getty Images

The castle was open to the public from May to September each year. In 2018, royal fans glimpsed the 53,000-acre estate when Charles filmed a BBC documentary titled “Prince, Son, and Heir: Charles at 70.”

In one scene, Camilla’s husband spoke from the reception room of the castle. He showed off the different mementos he had on display, including a framed image on a dresser.

The photo seemed to be the one of his grandson, Prince Louis’ July 2018 christening. Another picture showed Harry and Louis’ father, Prince William when they were young.

A wooden coffee table with colorful wildflowers stood by in a vase. Next to the window with dark floor-length curtains, a butterfly palm plant stood in a blue and white ceramic vase.

In 2002, Charles inherited the castle from his grandmother when she passed on. Three years later, he and Duchess Camilla even spent their honeymoon there, showing how they had fond memories of the estate.

HOW CHARLES AND CAMILLA PERCEIVED HARRY’S NEW WIFE

Prince Charles poses for a photograph in front of the Castle of Mey after he officially opened the Granary Accommodation on May 1, 2019. | Source: Getty Images

According to an excerpt from Tom Bower’s July 2022 book, “Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsors,” the Sussexes stayed with Harry’s father and stepmother for a week at Castle of Mey at the end of July 2018.

During the visit, the media was informed that Meghan’s father-in-law had become attached to her. Charles admired Harry’s wife’s interest in furniture and history; however, Bower revealed:

“Unspoken was Charles’s bewilderment about the American. He had never really understood her or what she wanted.”

During their stay, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were roped into a conference call with the Queen and Charles. The older royals urged Meghan to fly to the US to reconcile with her father, but she disagreed.

Harry defended his wife and sympathized with how she resented the Palace’s “sense of deference and hierarchy.” Meghan complained to her husband that his family didn’t understand, lumping in Camilla, who had nothing in common with her.

Charles’ wife was quite “apprehensive about Harry’s future.” Camilla had the best and some of the worst characteristics of an English woman of upper-middle-class stature who was solid and practical.

[Prince] Harry’s wife [Duchess Meghan] exuded radiance on her own, but beside her sister-in-law [Duchess Kate], she appeared “diminished.”

She was also a professional horsewoman, under-educated, keen on goodness, poor at cooking, had many old friends, and was grounded but “not grand.” The Duchess of Cornwall spoke plainly, took no-nonsense, was self-deprecating, and had a good sense of humor.

Duchess Meghan, Duchess Camilla, and Duchess Kate ride by carriage down the Mall during Trooping The Colour birthday parade on June 8, 2019, in London, England. | Source: Getty Images

However, when she found it necessary, she showed off her “stiff upper lip” characteristics. Charles’ wife was mainly in her element when sloshing around the mud in rain boots and Barbour.

On the other hand, Meghan was an American feminist who’d worked hard to graduate. She grew up in the Pacific sunshine and was not into the English past-time of hunting and riding in the shires in a bleak landscape, with Bower adding:

“The stark differences between the Cotswolds and California aroused Camilla’s sense that Meghan was an adventuress from Los Angeles.”

Duchess Camilla, Queen Elizabeth II, and Duchess Meghan watch a flypast to mark the Royal Air Force’s centenary from Buckingham Palace’s balcony on July 10, 2018, in London, England. | Source: Getty Images

Compared to Charles, Camilla allegedly saw through Meghan’s “coquettish smiles” and the performance she reportedly gave. While growing up in England, Camilla had been exposed to adventuresses who had self-importance.

She saw them as people she would call “minxes,” while she struggled to believe Harry’s wife would sacrifice her independence to be a team player and serve the monarch silently. Despite her views, the Duchess of Cornwall remained quiet.

Duchess Kate and Duchess Meghan in the Royal Box on Centre Court ahead of the Ladies Singles Final during the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships on July 13, 2019, in London, England. | Source: Getty Images

Bower claimed Meghan felt the rants by Thomas and her estranged half-sister, Samantha Markle, tainted her popularity. During an appearance with William’s wife, Duchess Kate, at the women’s Wimbledon finals, the pair appeared smiling together.

However, the image was believed to be staged, with Meghan giving a “forced” smile amid her family drama. Harry’s wife exuded radiance on her own, but beside her sister-in-law, she appeared “diminished.”

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