ROYAL FAMILY NEWSQueen Elizabeth Felt She Needed 'Protection' During Supervised Phone Calls With Prince Harry, Bombshell New Book Claims
Queen Elizabeth needed someone else present with her for 'protection' whenever she spoke to Prince Harry on the phone, a new book claims.
April 1 2026, Updated 12:21 p.m. ET
Queen Elizabeth II reportedly needed another person present with her whenever she had a phone call with Prince Harry.
Hugo Vickers claimed in his new book about the late sovereign how “she asked her lady-in-waiting to stay with her" when the Duke of Sussex, 41, spoke to her.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex Caused Queen Elizabeth 'Distress'
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left the royal family in 2020.
“The distress the Sussexes caused the Queen in the last years of her life cannot be overestimated,” the book noted.
A source told Page Six on April 1 ahead of the novel's release that the monarch was “monosyllabic” during the chats with her grandson.
“There were lots of one-word answers, ‘yes’ and ‘no,'" the palace insider said.
Queen Elizabeth Was Hurt by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
'The Queen was also on her guard with Harry,' the source said.
"The Queen clearly wanted some kind of protection,” the source went on, adding she kept her lady-in-waiting by her side for “moral support and protection… to ensure there was a record of what was said.”
“I think the Queen was also on her guard with Harry because she was so hurt by what he had done,” they said.
Vickers then shared in his book how Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, wanted to bring their baby daughter, Princess Lilibet, to see the royal during her Platinum Jubilee in June 2022. The sovereign died just several months later in September at the age of 96.
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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex married at Windsor Castle in 2018.
“Prince Harry was at [his then-residence] Frogmore Cottage with his wife and two children, the gate adorned with balloons to celebrate baby Lilibet’s first birthday. They visited the Queen with the children, again with a lady-in-waiting present,” Vickers wrote.
Meghan, 44, and the Invictus Games founder moved to the U.S. in 2020 after stepping back as senior members of The Firm. The couple married in May 2018 during a lavish ceremony at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.
Queen Elizabeth Advised Prince Harry to Wait a Year Before His Marriage Proposal
Queen Elizabeth died in September 2022.
However, the Queen was worried about the match, proposing Harry wait a little while longer before tying the knot with the Suits star.
"The Queen herself suggested that Harry should wait a year [before his marriage]," Vickers penned. "He did not take her advice. Instead, as we know, the wedding went ahead just over six months after the couple's engagement."
Vickers also noted the monarch wasn't too fond of the nuptials. “Someone close to the Queen said her attitude to the actual wedding was: ‘You get on with it. It’s nothing to do with me.’”
