Queen's horse riding companions advised to avoid 'talking about the Sussexes'

If you ever find yourself invited along for an evening horse ride with the Queen, don’t mention Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

That’s according to The Times journalist Quentin Letts, who tweeted to his 20,000 followers, revealing a rare insight from behind closed doors at Buckingham Palace.

“Friend of an acquaintance was about to go riding with HMQ,” Quentin wrote.

"Was given v firm advice 'Talk about anything except one subject.' Brexit? 'No, The Sussexes.'"

Quentin’s Twitter followers couldn’t get enough of the tidbit of chitchat from the Queen’s horse rides, with many saying Her Majesty must be seriously peeved about something to utter such words.

Others thought it was simply the Queen’s way of letting outsiders know she doesn’t discuss family matters with anyone outside her inner circle.

By all accounts, the Queen has been largely welcoming to the Duchess of Sussex since she joined the Royal Family in May 2018.

The 93-year-old monarch invited the former Suits actress and her mother, Doria Ragland, to Sandringham for Christmas before she was even a royal. And, weeks after her wedding, she brought Meghan aboard the royal train for their first official public outing together.

Last month, royal commentator Duncan Larcombe claimed it was all a strategic move on the Queen’s part, so Meghan feels more included in the family than her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana, did.

Duncan told The Sun that the Queen involving Meghan in royal life is ‘possibly because of the lessons of the past where Princess Diana pretty much felt like an outsider in the royal family’.

“Meghan seems to have forged a particularly close relationship with the Queen if you compare that to when other people have married into the royal family,” she said.

Their close bond was seemingly formed after Prince Harry got down on one knee and popped the question to Meghan in November 2018.

Speaking in their official engagement interview with the BBC, Meghan spoke highly of her fiancé’s grandmother.

“It’s incredible, I think, you know, a) to be able to meet her through his lens, not just with his honour and respect for her as the monarch, but the love that he has for her as his grandmother,” she said.

“All of those layers have been so important for me so that when I met her I had such a deep understanding and of course incredible respect for being able to have that time with her. And we’ve had a really – she’s – she’s an incredible woman.”