Prince Philip’s Blunt Reaction to Prince Harry’s Engagement to Meghan Markle Revealed in Royal Biography

Prince William also expressed “concerns” about his relationship with Meghan, Harry previously revealed

Prince Philip; Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.Credit :

Alastair Grant – WPA Pool/Getty; John Nacion/WireImage

When Prince Harry first announced his engagement to Meghan Markle, his grandfather, the late Prince Philip, issued a blunt warning.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their engagement in November 2017, a little over a year after news of their romance first broke. Philip reacted to the news with reluctance about Meghan, 44, entering the royal fold, the Daily Mail reported, citing Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, historian Andrew Lownie’s biography of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson.

In Entitled, which was released earlier this year, Lownie writes that upon learning of their plans to wed, Prince Philip warned: “One steps out with actresses, one doesn’t marry them.”

Philip’s caution to Harry, 41, after learning of the news was first reported by The Sunday Times in 2019.

Prince Philip in 2020.Pool/Max Mumby/Getty

“Idle dinner party gossip, perhaps, although it does sound like a Prince Philip bon mot,” the outlet stated at the time. (Philip’s quick wit and no-nonsense humor were legendary, both inside and outside palace walls.)

The Duke of Edinburgh, who died in 2021 at age 99, was not the only one who reportedly expressed wariness toward Meghan and Harry’s engagement.

In 2019, a source told PEOPLE that Prince William — who dated college sweetheart Kate Middleton for about eight years before tying the knot — cautioned his younger brother that things were moving too quickly, leaving Harry angry and hurt.

Harry wrote in his 2023 memoir, Spare, that William, 43, insulted Meghan in an incident after they had already wed — but later clarified that William never tried to dissuade him from marrying her.

The Duke of Sussex claimed in Spare that a 2019 disagreement between the brothers — which he said turned violent — began when William called Meghan “difficult,” “rude” and “abrasive.” In response, Harry said he replied that his brother was simply “parrot[ing] the press narrative” about his wife.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at their 2018 wedding.BEN STANSALL/POOL/AFP/AFP via Getty

In an interview tied to the memoir, Harry was asked by ITV News’ Tom Bradby if his older brother tried to dissuade him from marrying Meghan, and stated that William “never did that.”

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“No, he never tried to dissuade me from marrying Megan, but he aired some concerns, very early on and said, you know, this is gonna be really hard for you,” the Duke of Sussex recalled during the interview. “And I still to this day, I don’t truly understand which part of what he was talking about.”

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry in October 2025.Joe Scarnici/MLB Photos via Getty

“But maybe, you know, maybe he predicted what the British press’ reaction was gonna be,” added Harry.

During the same interview, Harry told Bradby that he saw a “red mist” in his brother during the emotional exchange, and added to Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes that he felt like William “was coming for my wife.”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who first met in early 2016, tied the knot in May 2018.

They later stepped back from their royal roles in 2021, and now live in Montecito, Calif., with their twoo children, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4.