Long-serving aide to the Queen reportedly claimed Prince Harry and Meghan’s marriage would ‘all end in tears’

One of the Queen’s longest-serving aides warned that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s marriage would “all end in tears”, a new biography claims.

Lady Hussey, a lady-in-waiting to the Queen since 1960, is alleged to have made the comment at a lunch with a group of theatre executives a few months before the couple got married.

In his book Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors, Tom Bower writes: “While discussing the possibility that Meghan might become associated with the National Theatre after the wedding, Hussey became unexpectedly serious about the couple’s future.

“That will all end in tears,” she is alleged to have warned. “Mark my words.”

As one of the Queen’s most trusted confidantes, Lady Hussey, 83, was said to have been part of a Palace team directed to help the Duchess of Sussex settle into life within the Royal family.

The team was led by Samantha Cohen, the Queen’s former assistant private secretary, who was persuaded to withdraw her resignation to help the Duchess through the wedding and beyond.

Lady Hussey and “other close companions of the Queen” visited the Duchess at Nottingham Cottage to offer help and advice, the book claims.

In response, the American actress was said to be “insistent” that she would not allow Buckingham Palace to shape her, dictate her thoughts or activities.

Bower also describes the alleged circumstances that led to an 11-year-old Meghan writing to Procter and Gamble to complain about a “very sexist” television advert that had women up in arms.

She also wrote to Hillary Clinton, then US First Lady, to complain about the advert for Ivory dishwashing soap that declared: “Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans.”

Three months later, the company changed the word “women” to “people” and the Duchess has repeatedly relayed the story - suggesting it gave her, an aspiring activist, her first taste of success.

Bower claims that when the future Duchess received no reply, her father wrote follow-up letters “demanding” that the corporation and Mrs Clinton acknowledge his daughter - but that “nothing happened”.

He is then alleged to have used his contacts to arrange for Linda Ellerbee, a host on children’s television channel Nickelodeon, to report Meghan’s protest at her school.

“Although Thomas knew that Meghan’s letter had not influenced the executives’ decision – there was no evidence that her letter was even read – he encouraged her conviction that the change was her personal victory,” Bower claims.

Elsewhere, the book delves into the oft-repeated incident involving Princess Charlotte’s fraught bridesmaid dress fitting.

Bower repeats the original version of events that saw the Duchess of Cambridge, tired having only recently given birth to Prince Louis, cry following a disagreement about tights and the length of the dress.

Meghan’s position was supported by her friend Jessica Mulroney, mother of another bridesmaid, Ivy.

“Some would say that the Duchess of Sussex compared Ivy favourably against Charlotte,” Bower writes. “Others were surprised by Meghan’s close attachment to Mulroney.”

The Duchess of Sussex would later insist in her Oprah Winfrey interview that it was she who cried.

Bower also alleges that to please the Duchess, the Duke of Sussex split from his old friends and even changed his telephone number without telling his family.