Queen Elizabeth II reportedly had concerns about her grandson Prince Harry's marriage to Meghan Markle, it has been revealed. Sally Bedell Smith, who spoke to the former monarch's cousin Lady Elizabeth Anson before her death, claimed that she was told by Lady Elizabeth that the late Queen was concerned about the 2018 wedding.

As well as claims that Prince Harry, 40, and Meghan, 43, upset the late Queen, Bedell-Smith also wrote on her Substack that Lady Elizabeth, who spoke to Queen Elizabeth II very often as a close confidante, recalled how the former monarch was concerned about the wedding in general.

This concern reportedly came about as the royals began to question Meghan's intentions and the fact the wedding was happening less than two years after the couple first met.

Speaking to The Mirror about the claims by Bedell-Smith, former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond said: "Lady Elizabeth Anson was certainly a very well-connected and informed source for these latest reports, which suggest that the Queen felt Harry was rushing into a marriage too quickly."

Prince Harry proposed to Meghan less than two years after meeting her. The proposal took place at his Nottingham Cottage home on the Kensington Palace estate.

In their 2017 engagement interview with BBC's Mishal Husain, Meghan said the engagement was "sweet, natural and very romantic".

She said: "We were trying to roast a chicken and it just - just an amazing surprise, it was so sweet and natural and very romantic. He got on one knee."

It is believed the prince also laid out a picnic blanket and electric candles in the garden especially for the occasion.

In his 2023 memoir Spare, Harry also revealed that he asked his grandmother for permission to marry Meghan, with the wedding later taking place in May 2018.

The couple then had less than two years of life as working royals together before they decided to quit royal duty and move to Montecito, California, in 2020.