Tom Bower, in his new book Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the War Between the Windsors, reports that Queen Elizabeth II told senior aides, “Thank goodness Meghan is not coming,” upon learning that Meghan Markle would not attend the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral in April 2021.
Bower describes the days surrounding Prince Philip’s funeral as solemn and fraught with tension, noting that the service at St George’s Chapel in Windsor was reduced to 30 mourners under COVID-19 restrictions and that the arrangements reflected the duke’s wish for a simple ceremony. Meghan, he writes, cited her seven-month pregnancy as the reason she did not travel to the United Kingdom for the service.
The funeral, conducted under Operation Forth Bridge protocols, proceeded without a eulogy by design and with strict distancing measures that left the monarch sitting alone in the chapel. Bower writes that the photograph of the 94-year-old queen alone in the pews as she said farewell to her husband became one of the most memorable images of the later years of her reign.
The service took place a month after Prince Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey, in which the couple made allegations about race and treatment within the royal household. Bower and other royal commentators have framed the interview as a key factor in tensions between the Sussexes and other members of the royal family. According to Bower, aides and family members were managing an atmosphere in which “no one understood the Sussexes’ mindset” when Harry arrived in London ahead of the funeral.
Seating and procession choices at St George’s Chapel reflected efforts to limit visible friction. Royal author Robert Lacey, writing about the day, said Peter Phillips was placed between Prince William and Prince Harry to act as a “diplomatic buffer.” The brothers were later seated opposite one another during the service. Because Harry had stepped back from official royal duties and was, by then, a private citizen without military appointments, he did not wear military uniform to the funeral.
Bower describes royal aides as “walking on eggshells” while trying to navigate the rift that followed the couple’s departure from senior royal roles the previous year. He also recounts that some in the family viewed Harry’s subsequent media projects as further strain: Bower writes that Harry was sitting on an Apple TV series and that its transmission had been delayed until after the funeral in order not to coincide with the service. Separately, Harry co-created the Apple TV+ series The Me You Can’t See with Oprah Winfrey, which was released on May 21, 2021; in that series he aired criticisms of the family and described feeling neglected.
Bower reports that, following the funeral, members of the royal family were visibly affected: Charles removed his face mask outside the chapel and was seen crying, William appeared tense and Catherine was described as serene. The author says the queen returned to her apartments at Windsor Castle alone and privately grieved, leaving a personal handwritten note alongside the wreath she selected for her husband.
Contemporary accounts cited by Bower and others describe a muted, private mourning. Senior dresser Angela Kelly, quoted by royal commentator Gyles Brandreth, said she helped the queen off with her coat and hat after the service and that “no words were spoken” before the monarch walked alone to her sitting room and closed the door.
Later reflections on the image of the queen sitting alone during the pandemic came from within the family. Peter Phillips, the queen’s eldest grandchild, told reporters that the inability to hug the monarch was one of the hardest parts of coping with the loss and that the picture of the sovereign alone at the funeral resonated with many families who had suffered pandemic bereavements.
Bower’s book offers a portrait of the period that interweaves published accounts, interviews and the author’s interpretation of events; its claims about private remarks and motivations are presented as his reporting. The details of the funeral itself — the restricted guest list, the absence of a public eulogy and the queen’s solitary presence in the chapel — are a matter of public record and were widely reported at the time.