Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tied the knot in 2018, with the late Queen Elizabeth holding great respect for Meghan as a career woman and encouraging her to continue acting.
According to Paul Burrell, Princess Diana's former butler, the Queen aimed to ensure that Prince Harry and Meghan led a fulfilling life. Burrell noted that the Queen was "very kind" towards the Suits star and expressed her willingness to support Meghan if she chose to pursue her acting career.
However, Meghan reportedly declined the Queen's offer after their initial meeting because she felt it was important to focus on her role as a royal. This decision followed earlier reports that the Queen recognized Meghan's potential positive impact on the royal family.
Speaking to Mirror US, Burrell said that the Queen and Meghan had an honest and open conversation. He said: "The Queen was very gracious and very kind to Meghan. She even said to Meghan, ‘You can continue acting if you like, continue your career.'"
Meghan later explained her reasoning for giving up acting during an engagement interview: "I don't see it as giving anything up, I just see it as a change."
She continued: "It’s a new chapter. And also keep in mind I [have] been working on my show for seven years. So we're very, very fortunate to have that sort of longevity on a series and for me, once we hit the 100-episode marker, I thought, 'You know what, I have ticked this box, and I feel really proud of the work I've done there, and now it's time to, as [Harry] said, 'work as a team with [him].'"
During her appearance at Variety's Power of Women event, Meghan spoke about her love for the Netflix hit: "It was great to work on, such a great cast and crew. We had a really fun time. I was on it for seven seasons, so quite a bit. But it's hard to find a show you can binge-watch that many episodes of these days, so that could have something to do with it. But good shows are everlasting."
Paul Burrell believes the late Queen valued Meghan and Harry and wanted them to be working members of the family. He said: "It's mind-boggling the amount of goodwill which Meghan and Harry have thrown away. I think that's why it came as a particular blow to the Queen when Harry left the Royal Family because she didn't want him to. She wanted him to stay, and she tried her hardest to persuade them to stay.”
