Shortly after they became the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were invited to the Castle of Mey in Caithness by King Charles.
At the time, it was reported that the newlyweds, along with Charles and Camilla, went for long walks, enjoyed ‘good food and quality family time’ at the Queen Mother‘s beloved former Scottish residence.
Writing in his memoir Spare, Prince Harry noted how the ‘bond between Meg and Pa’ was ‘always strong’ but their relationship ‘grew even stronger during that weekend’.
He claimed that then-Prince Charles was delighted when he found out his daughter-in-law shared the same birthdate as his grandmother: August 4.
Harry described how Charles – who celebrates his 77th birthday today – started ‘performing, showing off for Meg’ when he discovered the connection between the late Queen Mother and ‘my bride’.
However, according to author Tom Bower, Meghan’s first visit to the Highland estate was fraught with tension as the King’s ‘bewilderment with the American’ became increasingly apparent.
Writing in Revenge, Mr Bower said Charles was growing tired of Meghan’s reluctance to reconcile with her father, Thomas Markle, so that he would stop routinely attacking the Royal Family in the press.
While press reports at the time highlighted that Charles had ‘become attached to Meghan’ during the Castle Mey visit, the King had ‘never really understood her or what she wanted,’ the royal biographer added.
Shortly after they became the Duke and Duchess of Sussex , Prince Harry (not pictured) and Meghan Markle (right) were invited to the Castle of Mey in Caithness by King Charles
‘That week, his irritation about Thomas Markle’s TV appearances, especially his criticism of the Royal Family came to a head,’ he wrote.
Charles reportedly ‘berated’ Harry and insisted Meghan visit her father, who was living in Rosarito, Mexico, at the time, to ‘make this stop’.
Thomas Markle, a retired TV lighting director, had been a thorn in the side of The Firm since before Harry and Meghan’s wedding at St George’s Chapel that summer after the Mail on Sunday revealed he staged paparazzi photos in exchange for money.
Five days before he was due to walk Meghan down the aisle on May 19, 2018, American media outlets reported Thomas, then 73, had undergone heart surgery and was pulling out of the wedding so as not to ’embarrass the royal family or his daughter’.
The following month, Thomas sat down with Piers Morgan for his first TV interview on Good Morning Britain, where he claimed he asked Harry to swear he would never hit his daughter before giving the prince his blessing for their marriage.
Thomas later told The Sun he was ‘being shunned’ by his daughter for the paparazzi pictures scandal and pleaded with Meghan to get in touch with him so that they could ‘heal’ their relationship.
‘I don’t care whether that is at the expense of the Royal Family,’ he continued before ramping up the severity of his verbal attacks.
At the time, it was reported that the newlyweds, along with Charles and Camilla, went for long walks, enjoyed ‘good food and quality family time’ at the Queen Mother ‘s beloved former Scottish residence. Prince Harry and Meghan with King Charles (left) during Trooping the Colour in June 2018 – with then-Duchess of Cambridge (right) with her daughter, Princess Charlotte
During his media rampage, the Duchess’s estranged father – who currently lives in the Philippines – said his daughter looked ‘terrified’ in her new role while noting her ‘pained smile’.
‘It really worries me,’ he told The Sun. ‘I think she’s under too much pressure. There’s a high price to pay to be married to that family.’
He lambasted Meghan’s ‘sense of superiority’ during a nearly nine-hour interview with the Mail on Sunday, as he declared ‘I made her the Duchess she is today’ and warned he would ‘unload’ on the Royal Family.
During the extraordinary conversation, he told this newspaper that Harry’s mother, Princess Diana would have ‘loathed’ how Meghan was treating her father, reiterating claims she was stonewalling him.
‘I don’t care if Harry never speaks to me again. I’ll survive…Who cares these days about a dusty old crown?
‘Ok, maybe it’s been polished but it’s an ancient institution stuck in its ways.’
His lengthy interview with the Mail on Sunday was published on July 28 as the Sussexes arrived in Scotland for what was supposed to be a relaxing holiday at Castle of Mey, Mr Bower said.
However, Charles was displeased by Thomas’s claims as Mr Bower noted: ‘That week his irritation about Thomas Markle’s TV interviews, especially his criticism of the Royal Family came to a head.
‘”Can’t she just go and see him and make this stop?” Charles “berated” Harry,’ Mr Bower continued.
Author Tom Bower claimed Meghan’s first visit to the Highland estate was fraught with tension as the King’s ‘bewilderment with the American’ became increasingly apparent. Pictured: A view of Castle of Mey
Meghan reportedly felt that her in-laws ‘fundamentally don’t understand’ her situation with her father, despite Harry ‘endlessly explaining the situation’ about Thomas’ behaviour to them.
Mr Bower, however, alleged the Duke ‘withheld critical details’ such as Thomas’ anger at being blocked out by his daughter.
Instead, he suggested Meghan had privacy concerns.
Sometimes, Harry said, his wife ‘suspected that “his phone was [not] in his possession”‘ while other times she believed his email account had been ‘compromised’.
‘Charles could not have known that both reasons were untrue,’ Mr Bower wrote in his book, which follows the rift within the Royal Family that would come to be known as Megxit.
As time went on, the ‘inconsistencies of Meghan’s excuses’ not to see her father – and resolve the conflict that was beginning to impact The Firm’s reputation – began to ‘irritate’ Charles.
While he was still with Harry and Meghan at Castle Mey, the late Queen Elizabeth joined her son for a conference call with Meghan and Harry so they could persuade the Duchess to ‘fly to America for a reconciliation’.
According to Mr Bower, Meghan rejected the suggestion outright, claiming any such meeting would cause a ‘frenzy of media attention and intrusion’ that would, ultimately, do more harm than good.
‘Her argument avoided the truth,’ Mr Bower said. ‘She claimed “I had no secure means of communication with my father”, and added, “we could not trust that my father’s phone was in his possession.”
‘That did not prevent her from contacting him.’
Writing in Revenge, Mr Bower said Charles was growing tired of Meghan’s reluctance to reconcile with her father, Thomas Markle, so that he would stop routinely attacking the Royal Family in the press. The now-King is seen here with his wife Camilla at Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding in May, 2018
While press reports at the time highlighted that Charles had ‘become attached to Meghan’ during the Castle Mey visit, the King had ‘never really understood her or what she wanted,’ the royal biographer added
Mr Bower claimed that Charles, as well as the late Queen, quickly understood Meghan’s excuse was ‘far-fetched’ and the conference call ended with ‘both the senior royals perplexed’ by her behaviour.
Meghan, on the other hand, complained that the Royal Family ‘fundamentally don’t understand’ the situation with her father during her visit to the Scottish castle.
Mr Bower noted that Camilla, who had ‘nothing in common’ with the former Suits actress, was ‘apprehensive about Harry’s future’ with Meghan.
Camilla grew up on a large country estate in Plumpton, East Sussex, and was most comfortable ‘sloshing through the mud in Barbour and gumboots’, was reportedly suspicious of the LA-born actress’s ‘coquettish smiles and tactile performance’.
During their time together at Castle Mey, Camilla got the impression that Meghan was not the kind of person who would ‘sacrifice her independence to serve silently as a team-player’.
While writing about their holiday to Castle Mey in his memoir Spare, which was published in January 2023, Harry recalled how one night Charles regaled the couple with a story about ‘selkies’ or ‘Scottish mermaids’.
Over ‘pre-dinner cocktails’, Charles told Harry and Meghan that these mythical creature ‘took the form of seals’ and swam along the shore outside the castle, before adding: ‘So, when you see a seal, you never can tell…Sing to it. They often sing back.’
Harry said they ‘talked a bit…about the stress we’d been under’ during dinner but the ‘good vibes continued’ the next day.
He added that the Queen rang Meghan while they were at Caithness and suggested she write her father Thomas a letter.
‘Pa agreed. Splendid idea.’
The Duke also described how Harry ‘serenaded’ the seals upon his father’s suggestion during a ‘chilly day’ out at the beach – but heard nothing back.
‘Meg joined me, and sang to them, and now of course they sang back,’ he wrote.
‘She really is magic. Even the seals know it,’ Harry added. ‘Suddenly, all over the water, heads were bobbing up, singing to her.’
He was so delighted by what he took to be a ‘good omen’ that Harry stripped off his clothes and went for a swim with the seals.
Later, Charles’s chef informed Harry that singing to the seals had been a ‘supremely bad idea’.
‘This part of the Scottish coast was teeming with killer whales, the chef said, and singing to seals was like calling them to their blood-soaked deaths.’
Less than two years after this holiday, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle quit the Royal Family and relocated to Montecito, California, where they now live with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
