The Queen plans to 'rebrand and modernize' the royal family and sees Meghan Markle as a 'positive' addition
Queen Elizabeth has apparently set up a plan to 'rebrand and modernize' the royal family to ensure its continued glory. The longest-reigning monarch wants her family, including Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, to apparently be more "open" to change and to keep moving with the times, according to OK magazine.
A source close to the royal family told the publication: "The Queen is allowing the royal family to modernize. We have come a real long way. They are not stuffy and immovable."
The insider, who is none other than former Buckingham Palace staffer Coleen Harris, revealed to the publication that a few people around the palace were "quite shocked" on hearing that the Queen permitted Prince William to marry Kate Middleton even though she wasn't a royal.
Harris, who was on Prince Charles's press team until 2003, added: "People then sort of thought, an ordinary person can grow up and marry into the royal family. How exciting, how different! With [Meghan], that takes it even a step further."
Even Kate Nicholl, who is considered to be Prince Harry's autobiographer, has previously echoed the Queen's desire for a shift in the age-old customs and traditions, citing Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle as somebody Prince Harry's grandmother saw as a "positive person".
"When you look at Meghan on paper, she is not necessarily what you might expect of a conventional royal fiancée and that she's American, she's a well-known face," she said. "She's filmed some pretty racy sex scenes that we've all seen in 'Suits'."
"Everything from being a divorcée to being a bit older than Prince Harry, to coming from a dual heritage family, you might wonder if the Queen, being of a certain generation, might have been concerned."
She added, "But everything I heard from the sources I spoke to was that she really felt from the outset that Meghan was a positive person in Prince Harry's life. That she made him very happy and that she was really very supportive."
The news of this royal 'rebranding' mission comes only a couple of months after it was revealed that Queen Elizabeth's granddaughter Zara Tindall and her husband Mike Tindall have chosen the name Lena Elizabeth Tindall for their newborn as a tribute to the Queen. A spokeswoman for Zara and Mike said, "The name is Lena Elizabeth. It was just a name they liked."
The couple shunned the royal tradition by refusing to pick a name relating to any family member when their daughter Mia was born. Many were of the view that Zara would name her first born after Zara's mother Anne or even her grandmother Elizabeth. Zara and Mike chose the name Mia for the simple reason that they both liked the name.
At the time, Zara's spokesperson said, "There is no family connection, no relation with the name, it’s just pure coincidence. They both just really liked the names, particularly Mia."
