Prince Philip’s stark warning to Harry before Meghan marriage revealed

“One steps out with actresses, one doesn’t marry them,” the Duke of Edinburgh allegedly told the Duke of Sussex after he and the Suits star got engaged in 2017, royal biographer Andrew Lownie wrote in his book Entitled, according to the Daily Mail.

Per the outlet, royal author Ingrid Seward also stated in her 2024 book, My Mother and I, Philip, that Philip was “one of the very few wary” of Markle when she and Harry started dating in 2016.

Philip, who died in April 2021 at the age of 99, also compared Markle to the late King Edward VIII’s wife, Wallis Simpson, with whom he gave up the throne to marry in 1937.

The former Duke and Duchess of Windsor’s marriage was viewed as a scandal since the socialite had been married and divorced twice.

They were together until Edward died in 1972.

Reps for Markle, 44, and Buckingham Palace weren’t immediately available to Page Six for comment.

Philip and Queen Elizabeth II, who died in 2022, were present when Harry, 41, and Markle tied the knot at Windsor Castle in May 2018.

According to Grant Harrold, a former royal butler, Philip allegedly told Elizabeth, “Thank f**k that’s over,” shortly after leaving the chapel.

In January 2020, the couple announced they were resigning from their royal duties and opted to move to North America, where they now live with their kids: Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4.

Philip reportedly refused to have a say in Harry and Markle’s decision and allegedly told Elizabeth that he would “be soon out of it.”

Per the US Sun, while the Duke of Edinburgh allegedly didn’t agree with the duo’s choices, he believed “people have to lead their lives as they think best,” according to royal biographer Gyles Brandreth.

Brandreth also wrote that Philip labelled Harry and Markle’s tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey as “madness.”

In the 2021 interview, Markle told the TV personality that her life as a royal was “almost unsurvivable.”

“I just didn’t want to be alive anymore,” she said.

Markle also discussed how members of the royal family once allegedly discussed their concerns about “how dark [Archie’s] skin might be when he was born.”

This article originally appeared in Page Six and was reproduced with permission