Royal author Omid Scobie claimed that Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, did little to support Meghan Markle in her new royal role and even called her "casually bigoted" over comments she made about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Oprah interview.
In his new book "Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival," the biographer alleged that the 58-year-old was not very helpful to Meghan Markle in her transition to royal life.
But an unnamed source has contradicted his claims, saying that Sophie Wessex went out of her way to befriend the former "Suits" actress. She even invited her to tea at her home at Bagshot Park in Surrey.
"It was just the two of them and they talked for hours. Meghan had so many questions and Sophie, who knows what it's like navigating your way through the early days of transition from a commoner to a royal, gave freely of her advice," the royal insider told The Sun.
The source added that Sophie Wessex found the Duchess of Sussex "likeable and engaging". She had reportedly also told Meghan Markle to call her "any time she needed advice about dealing with some of the trickier royals".
"She was quite surprised when that was the last she heard from Meghan. As she noted, it would've been nice to receive a return invitation to Frogmore Cottage," the insider said.
The Duchess of Edinburgh revealed in a previous interview that it took her five years to adjust to royal life saying: "It took me a while to find my feet." Her experience reportedly led to Queen Elizabeth II's decision to appoint her as mentor for the Duchess of Sussex, according to fellow royal author Gyles Brandreth.
He wrote in his book "Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait": "The Queen (who, of course, had seen it all before) understood that Harry's girl might find adjusting to royal life 'challenging to begin with' (as she put it). 'It is very jolty, but you soon get used to it' – that was Her Majesty's experience going back many years."
He added: "To help Meghan, the Queen suggested that her daughter-in-law, Sophie Wessex, would be an ideal mentor. 'Sophie can help show you the ropes,' said the Queen." But according to Brandreth, the former actress "made it clear that she did not feel she needed Sophie's help" because she had Prince Harry.
Elsewhere in his book, Scobie recalled the response Sophie Wessex and her husband, Prince Edward, gave when asked about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's infamous Oprah interview in 2021.
He accused the couple of having committed a "royal screw up" over their response. They had asked, "Oprah who?" and "what interview?" when quizzed if they had watched the Sussexes' explosive interview.
The Duchess of Edinburgh then replied: "You know, if you're not into chat shows, there's no reason why you should know who she is. Certainly not in this country, anyway."
Scobie wrote about their comments: "Whether it was a 'joke' (as a source close to Edward and Sophie later claimed it was) or not, the comments about the world's most successful black woman and one of the biggest faces in entertainment made them seem stuffy or tin-eared at best, and casually bigoted at worst."
He added that their response could be used to support the notion that the British monarchy is an "intolerant organisation steeped in bigotry and privilege".
The Sussexes ignited a race row with their Oprah interview when they claimed that there were concerns raised by senior royals over how dark Prince Archie's skin could look ahead of his birth. Prince Harry has since denied that they accused the royals involved of being racist. Instead, he said that they showed unconscious bias. They have never revealed the identities of these royals to this day. But Scobie apparently wrote in "Endgame" that the couple was referring to King Charles III and Kate Middleton.
