When the Queen and Meghan Markle stepped out for their first official royal engagement together in July last year, the pair appeared to be the best of friends.
So much so that even royal experts couldn’t believe just how much the Her Majesty and the Duchess of Sussex got along as they spent the day laughing and smiling.
“The Queen and Meghan obviously have a tremendous rapport,” the Queen’s former aide Dickie Aribiter said at the time, adding he had never “seen the Queen look so happy and delighted.”
However, according to the 2018 documentary Harry and Meghan: the first 100 days, the duo’s outing in Chester may have simply been a PR stunt.
“The Royal family have come unstuck in the past because they have isolated Diana,” Royal author Katie Nicholl explains.
“They didn’t include her – they don’t go out of their way to make her feel welcome. Is this why they are making such an effort with Meghan?
“I’m sure the Queen, by bringing her in under her wing, supporting her, going out with her on a very public away-day, it sends out a message.”
Meanwhile, Royal biographer Duncan Larcombe says the Queen has “learnt from lessons of the past.”
He added: “They know how badly affected Princess Diana was in the early years of her marriage, feeling that she joined this alien world that she couldn’t cope with.”
