Meghan Markle describes her relationship with Queen Elizabeth II

While Meghan Markle never shying away from talking about her struggle to adjust to life as a member of the royal family, she always had kind things to say about Queen Elizabeth II.

When the news broke in November 2017 Prince Harry proposed to Meghan after more than a year of dating, the Suits alum told reporters it was “amazing” to meet the monarch. When she married Harry in May 2018, the Queen lent Meghan Queen Mary’s stunning diamond band to wear for the wedding.

Things changed in 2020, however, when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their plans to stop working full-time for Queen Elizabeth. The palace addressed its decision at the time as a series of “complicated issues that will take time to resolve.” The Queen then confirmed that the couple will no longer receive public funding and will lose their royal titles when they move to the United States.

“Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be loved members of the family. I recognize the challenges they have experienced as a result of intense scrutiny over the last two years and I support their desire to live more independently,” the Queen said in January 2020. “I want to thank them for their dedicated work across this country, the Commonwealth and beyond, and I am particularly proud of how Meghan has become a member of the family so quickly. My whole family hopes that today’s agreement will allow them to start building a happy and peaceful new life.”

Harry and Meghan, who share son Archie and daughter Lilibet, attended their last engagement as working royals in March 2020. The following year, they did a bombshell interview about The Firm.

“It’s hard for people to tell the difference between the two because it’s a family business, right? So there’s the family, and there’s the people who run the institution,” she told CBS in March 2021. “The Queen, for example, has always been wonderful to me.”

During the interview, the Duke and Duchess stated that a member of Harry’s family had made a comment about Archie’s skin color. Harry later denied that his grandmother and her husband, Prince Philip – who died in April 2021, a month after the interview – were the ones who made the remark.

Harry, Meghan and their children had special time with the Queen during the summer of 2022 before she died that September, bringing the little ones to London for Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee. During the June visit, the Queen celebrated Lilibeth’s first birthday with the Sussexes.

News broke on September 8, 2022 that Queen Elizabeth had died after more than 70 years on the throne. The Harry and Meghan Archewell Foundation’s website temporarily paused access, displaying only a tribute to the monarch: “In loving memory of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. 1926 to 2022.”

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