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Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, caught royal watchers by surprise in 2020 when they announced that they were stepping down from royal duties and moving to America. What was even more surprising for the royal family were the public shots the duke and duchess took at members of the Firm and the monarchy as a whole after they left.

At first, it seemed like the couple just wanted their truth out there. Somewhere along the line though the constant attacks on an institution that couldn’t fight back along with two very wealthy and privileged people always playing the victim card, got old. The Sussexes finally saw that themselves and in 2024, decided to do a complete rebrand and refrain from airing out any more dirty royal laundry.

But no matter how much they try to move away from what they’ve already said and done, they’ll never be able to rewrite history or escape one major comparison.

6 words biographer used to describe Meghan and who she compared her to

Meghan Markle speaks onstage during a panel at the 2024 SXSW conference and festival
Meghan Markle speaks onstage during a panel at the 2024 SXSW conference and festival | Astrida Valigorsky/Getty Images

Royal author Sally Bedell Smith who has written a book examining King George VI’s role in the monarchy following the abdication of his older brother Edward VIII has drawn parallels between Meghan and Edward’s wife, Wallis Simpson.

According to The Telegraph, while speaking at the Oxford Literary Festival Bedell Smith said: “It is different. Harry was never going to be king. But I think there are similar feelings of betrayal that have resulted in [Prince] William in particular being furious with his brother — with good reason.”

The biographer then likened Meghan to Simpson with six words to describe her personality saying: “In some respects, Meghan and the Duchess of Windsor have similar qualities: ‘very narcissistic, very controlling, very dominating.'”

Bedell Smith also took a shot at Prince Harry by comparing him to his great-great-uncle and labeling him as “weak.”

“If you read the Duke of Windsor’s (Edward VIII) letters, you can see how weak he was and how much he needed a domineering woman, and it feels as if Harry is somewhat the same way,” she opined.

Not the first time the Duchess of Sussex has been compared to the Duchess of Windsor

(L) Meghan Markle, (R) Wallis Simpson
(L): Meghan Markle | Karwai Tang/WireImage, (R): Wallis Simpson | ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images

This isn’t the first time the Duchess of Sussex has been compared to the Duchess of Windsor. Over the years several royal watchers have drawn comparisons between the two women as they are both American and divorcees whom their husbands left royal life for.

It’s even been reported that the late Prince Philip saw similiarities between Meghan and Simpson. In her book Prince Philip Revealed royal expert Ingrid Seward claimed that after the Sussexes stepped down from their royal duties and moved across the pond, Philip viewed Meghan “as a destructive and divisive force as Wallis.”

Seward wrote: “For Philip, whose entire existence [was] based on a devotion to doing his duty, it appeared that his grandson had abdicated his for the sake of his marriage to an American divorcee in much the same way as Edward VIII gave up his crown to marry Wallis Simpson in 1936.”