The Queen told one of her most trusted staff member that she was relieved Meghan Markle was not attending Prince Philip ’s funeral, a bombshell new book has claimed.
Author Tom Bower alleges that Her Majesty responded to aides who told her the Duchess of Sussex would be absent by saying: “Thank goodness.”
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the claims made in the book, which hits the shelves next week.
The funeral on April 17 came just one month after her grandson Harry and Meghan gave their infamous interview to Oprah Winfrey.
One of the biggest allegations from the interview was that there were "several conversations" within the Royal Family about how dark Meghan and Harry's baby might be.
'Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsors' adds more detail to the aftermath of the sit -down chat with the legendary American, and is being serialised by The Sun and The Times.
Mr Bower writes the mood was "sombre" on the day of the funeral.
He adds: "The only uncertainty was the relationship between Harry and his family. How would he cope with his father and brother?
"Meghan had cited her seven months' pregnancy as the reason for not travelling and in Windsor Castle the Queen was preparing to face the public on one of the saddest days of her life. Philip had been her rock for the previous 70 years.
"To comply with Covid restrictions she would grieve alone inside the chapel. 'Thank goodness Meghan is not coming,' the monarch said."
The claims come after Meghan said in the Oprah interview: "In those months when I was pregnant [there were] concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he was born."
Both she and Harry refused to say which royal said it.
"That conversation, I am never going to share," said Harry. "At the time it was awkward, I was a bit shocked."
Meghan also spoke about how lonely she felt after joining the Royal Family.
"When I joined that family, that was the last time until we came here that I saw my passport, my driver's licence, my keys, all that gets turned over," she said.
She said her mental health got so bad that she "didn't want to be alive any more".
The Duchess went on: "I went to the institution and I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help, said I had never felt that way before and need to go somewhere, and I was told that I couldn't, that it wouldn't be good for the institution."
The Queen ruled that Prince Harry, Meghan, and even her own son Prince Andrew would not be able to stand beside her during the historic Trooping of the Colour parade after only inviting working royals on to the balcony.
But a friend of the couple says they were not axed from the regal guestlist, but asked for it themselves.
Omid Scobie, the pair's biographer and Finding Freedom author, said Harry discussed "with his grandmother about the possibility of not attending Trooping the Colour" long before the controversial announcement.
