The Mail’s Richard Kay has revealed how the Suits star, 36, was introduced to the monarch for the first time during a discreet tea party at Buckingham Palace last Thursday, arriving in a Ford Galaxy with blacked out windows.
Everything about the teatime meeting was deliberately informal, I am told,’ he said. ‘In part it was to settle any nerves Meghan might have felt but also to ensure it was not widely publicised within the palace.
‘After being driven in to the inner courtyard, the couple were said to have been whisked up to the Queen’s private sitting room on the first floor overlooking the palace gardens and Constitution Hill, and which is served by a lift.
‘According to an insider the couple arrived in time for tea at around 5pm.
The Queen, pictured arriving at the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery parade today, hosted Meghan and Harry for almost an hour at Buckingham Palace last week
‘I understand the Queen spent almost an hour with her grandson and the Los Angeles-born Meghan, who stars in the US legal drama Suits.
‘Insiders say that Harry, 33, had spoken to his grandmother during the summer at Balmoral asking to introduce Meghan, who is three years his senior.
‘She has been a regular visitor to the Prince’s Kensington Palace home during the past year.
Although she rarely ventures out on shopping expeditions on nearby Kensington High Street as she did a year ago, she is seen walking around the palace complex by royal staff.
‘I am told that Prince Charles was “very impressed” when he met the actress-cum-activist earlier this year. The Duchess of Cornwall is said to have told a member of staff that Meghan was ‘a very nice girl and very pleasant’.
A spokesman for Kensington Palace said: ‘We have refrained from commenting on all previous stories about Prince Harry introducing Meghan Markle to members of the Royal Family and therefore we have no comment.’