Meghan Markle's reaction to finding that Prince Harry is not a billionaire
Meghan Markle had to "reassess" her expectations of British royal life after meeting Prince Harry, a new book claims.
The 43-year-old, who was raised in Los Angeles before studying at Northwestern University in Illinois, is said to have had certain "assumptions" about the royal family that didn’t match reality. Now living in Montecito with Harry and their two children, Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three, Meghan reportedly had to adjust to the realities of life within the monarchy.
In his new book, Yes Ma'am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants, author Tom Quinn claims Meghan Markle had to rethink her expectations of royal life after learning Prince Harry was not as wealthy as she had assumed.
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Excerpted in The Times, the book alleges that Meghan “quickly realised” she needed to “reassess other assumptions she'd made about this strange new family” after discovering that Harry’s fortune was around £20 million.
Quinn wrote: “Meghan Markle had a typically American view of the royal family before she joined it—for her, life was all about castles, glittering balls and limitless wealth and ease.” He added, citing a royal staff member: “She expected a billionaire and she got a millionaire.”
Meghan has previously spoken about her experience adjusting to royal traditions. In the Harry & Meghan Netflix docuseries, she recalled being caught off guard when she was expected to curtsy before meeting the late Queen Elizabeth II.
“I mean, it's surreal. There wasn't like some big moment of ‘Now you're gonna meet my grandmother’,” she said. “I didn't know I was going to meet her until moments before. We were in the car and we were going to the Royal Lodge for lunch, and he was like, ‘Oh, my grandmother is here, she's gonna be there after church.’”
She continued: “I remember we were in the car, driving and he's like, ‘You know how to curtsy, right?’. And I just thought it was a joke.”
Prince Harry admitted that royal customs, such as bowing and curtsying, can be difficult for outsiders to understand, especially for Americans.
“How do you explain that to people? How do you explain that you bow to your grandmother? And that you would need to curtsy, especially to an American. That's weird,” he said in Harry & Meghan.
Meghan recalled her first attempt at curtsying, saying she quickly realised the significance of the moment. “Now I'm starting to realise this is a big deal. I mean, Americans will understand this. We have Medieval Times dinner and tournament. It was like that. Like, I curtsied as though I was like... ‘Pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty.’”
She added: “It was so intense. And then when she left, Eugenie and Jack and Fergie say, ‘You did great!’. Thanks. I didn't know what I was doing.”
Harry also reflected on the moment in Spare, revealing that Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, had stepped in to help. “Fergie asked Meg if she knew how to curtsy. Meg shook her head. Fergie demonstrated once. Meg imitated her.”
Elsewhere, Meghan has said she never researched Prince Harry or his family before joining the royals. In her 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, she insisted she went in without preconceptions.
“Thank God I didn’t know a lot about the family,” she said. “Thank God I hadn’t researched. I would’ve been so in my head about it.”
Yes Ma'am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants by Tom Quinn is set for release on February 18.
