Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother was well-known for coining the royal phrase 'never complain, never explain' which members of The Firm have lived by for generations. In the final years of her life, The Queen Mother was often referred to as 'the best loved royal' thanks to her decades of public service.
But behind palace walls her staff knew her for the clever way she avoided any familial subject she didn't want to speak or know about. The Queen Mother reportedly mastered this ability to such a degree that those closest to her nicknamed her "the imperial ostrich", owing to her fondness for 'sticking her head in the sand' to avoid difficult conversations.
As a result, one well-placed royal expert explained what the royal would think of the rift between The Firm and The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
As author William Shawcross put it: "[The Queen Mother] wouldn't acknowledge, let alone confront, disagreeableness within the family."
And royal expert Hugo Vickers, who wrote the late royal's biography, says she would have been "so disappointed" with the actions of her great-grandson and his wife.
He told The Sun : "I think the Queen Mother would have been absolutely horrified in regards to Meghan and Harry's interview with Oprah. Fundamentally a lot of things that were said in there that were not true and very easy to disprove. I'm sure she would be very unhappy.
"The Queen Mother was always someone who if she were unhappy or saw something she didn't like she would just blank it out and just wouldn't refer to it. It didn't happen or the person didn't exist.
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"This was the attitude towards the Duke and Duchess of Windsor - she just didn't bother with them. They just didn't exist to her at all. I think that’s how she would also feel about Meghan and Harry - they would be ignored, they would be blanked. You wouldn’t have been able to get much out of her about what she thought about them."
The late royal expert Christopher Warwick also spoke about how the public viewed the Queen Mother and her approach to confrontation in the family.
He told MyLondon : "The public perception of the Queen Mother was of this little old lady in her crossover bodices, her floaty chiffons, her feathered hats but, as we all know, she was an iron fist in a velvet glove which is why, of course, the Queen was aware of what Mummy would have thought.
"There is a lovely story that I was told that the Queen and her mother were arriving at some do and they were obviously having words between them in the car because when the door was opened the Queen Mother had just said 'Darling, who do you think you are?' and the Queen was heard to say 'I'm the Queen, Mummy. I'm the Queen."
Princess Diana's biographer Andrew Morton previously spoke to The Mirror's podcast 'Pod Save The King' about what the late Queen would have thought of her grandson's actions and why she would have been supportive if he and Meghan had wanted to spend a few years away from the UK.
He said: "They were thinking about living in New Zealand and they even spoke to the Prime Minister of New Zealand about this - so they had all kinds of plots and thoughts for their future.
"It didn't work out because when it actually comes down to it, Prince Harry is cursed with charisma but hates being a prince and I think that he saw Meghan as a way out. They didn't have to leave the Royal Family in the way that they did, but they did."
The author continued: "Back in the late 1940's after they married, The Queen and Prince Philip lived in Malta for a while as he was pursuing his career in the Royal Navy and many thought he would end up as First Lord of the Admiralty as he was such a star.
"They never thought for a minute that George VI would die so soon and thought that they would have 20 years or so on the fringes of the Royal Family.
"So The Queen has always been very understanding of anybody who wants to step back for a few years and just enjoy family life because you're a long time being a royal."
