Prince Harry was a “lamb to the slaughter” in his relationship with Meghan Markle and “blindly followed her like a child,” according to royal biographer Tina Brown.
The former magazine editor borrowed Princess Diana‘s famous description of her vulnerability when at 20 years old she married King Charles III, who was 32.
In an interview with The Ankler podcast, she said Meghan convinced Harry she was a “savvy Hollywood wheeler dealer who could come in and make them stars.”
However, Brown, who wrote royal biography The Palace Papers, argued the duchess in fact has “the worst judgement.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are seen alongside Tina Brown in a composite image. Brown, a former magazine editor and biographer, has given a scathing verdict on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in an interview.
Scott Dudelson/Getty Images and Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and David Levenson/Getty Images
“He’s pretty much in the thrall of Meghan,” Brown said. “The trouble with Meghan is that she has the worst judgment of anyone in the entire world. She’s flawless about getting it all wrong. I mean, she just is. She really is a perfectionist about getting it all wrong.”
Her comments come at a time when Harry and Meghan have been recovering from a fall from grace after the prince’s memoir, Spare, was ridiculed after its release in January 2023 and their Spotify deal collapsed several months later.
They now have several new projects in the pipeline through Netflix plus Meghan’s lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, which are all in development.
There have been positives, such as when Meghan signed with Hollywood talent agency WME, though Brown suggested every time she thinks the duchess is “finally” getting things right hopes are dashed.
Brown, who is the former editor in chief of Tatler, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, cited Meghan getting “WME involved” as an example.
“Her problem is she doesn’t listen,” she said. “The reason they all leave is she does not listen.
“She has all these people, asks them their opinion and then doesn’t follow it. She does what she wants to do. And then all of her ideas are total c***, unfortunately.”
“He’s so naive and really unschooled in the ways of the world,” she continued. “Being Prince Harry, I doubt if he’s ever booked a table in a restaurant.
“The army was great for him and he was extremely good and competent in there, that really helped turn him into a real person. But he’s a lamb to the slaughter—he’s the lamb to the slaughter in this situation.”
Her choice of words is particularly significant as it mirrors Princess Diana’s description of her marriage to Charles in Andrew Morton’s 1992 book Diana: Her True Story.
The princess said: “The night before the wedding I was very, very, deathly calm. I felt I was a lamb to the slaughter. I knew it and I couldn’t do anything about it.”
While the power imbalance in Charles and Diana’s relationship was formed partly from the age gap and partly from his status as heir to the throne, Brown said Meghan convinced Harry of her greater professional prowess.
“He was terribly impressed by Meghan,” she said. “She persuaded him that she was the savvy Hollywood wheeler dealer who could come in and make them stars and all the rest of it and he just sort of blindly followed her like a child, really.
“And unfortunately she made every mistake in the book and she’s kind of run out of road actually. I don’t know where Meghan goes.
“I think Harry could still make a comeback. He’ll always be Prince Harry he’ll always be the grandson of the queen [Elizabeth II] and the son of Diana, you can’t take that from him whatever happens.”
Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.
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