Princess Diana would not have been a big fan of daughter-in-law Meghan Markle, according to legendary magazine editor Tina Brown.
Brown — who was a high-powered pal of the princess — made the sensational claim in an interview with the Daily Beast Thursday, declaring: “Diana would have been very, very protective of Harry and I believe very anxious about this direction they [he and Meghan] have taken.”
The magazine queen, 68 — who also penned the best-selling biography “The Diana Chronicles” — added: “I think she would have felt Meghan was steering Harry in a direction that was not good. I don’t think Diana would have been the great fan of Meghan that Meghan herself might perhaps imagine.”
Indeed, there have been dozens of reports that Meghan, 41, is modeling herself on her late mother-in-law, copying her outfits, wearing her jewelry and fashioning herself as a similarly free-spirited humanitarian.
Tina Brown (inset) says she doesn’t believe that Princess Diana would have been a “great fan” of Meghan Markle, and would have been “anxious” about the direction Prince Harry’s life is heading.
Meghan and Harry are estranged from the royal family. POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Brown — who edited Vanity Fair and The New Yorker — was a longtime friend of Diana’s. They met for lunch just a month before the princess’ tragic death in a car crash. Paul Bruinooge/Patrick McMullan
Many claim iconoclastic Diana would have loved Meghan for throwing out the royal rulebook — but not so, said Brown.
Although Diana, like Meghan, did have a strained relationship with the royal family, Brown said she was “never anti-monarchy.”
“She never questioned that Prince William would be king. It was her most ardent desire he would become king. She was never anti-monarchy in that regard,” Brown explained. “She had differences with the royal family — her biggest difference was that her husband wasn’t in love with her, he was in love with someone else. But she never thought for one minute that William would not be the future king, and that Harry would always be there to support him. She would not be happy with how things are.”
William is now estranged from Harry, with many blaming Meghan for fueling the feud between the two brothers.
Diana and Prince Charles are pictured in the early 1980s. Like Meghan, Diana had a famously fractious relationship with the royal family, but was “never anti-monarchy,” according to Brown. Bettmann Archive
Diana was “very protective” of her boys, according to Brown, and would have been “anxious” about Harry’s estrangement from William. Getty Images
The estranged brothers are pictured together last year. The tension between the two — who were once incredibly close — was visible.
Meanwhile, Brown — who edited Tatler, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker — revealed that she last saw Diana in July 1997, when they went for lunch with Anna Wintour at the Four Seasons in New York.
Recalling the lunch — which occurred less than two months before the princess’ tragic death — Brown also took a swipe at Meghan and Harry, saying: “She was really excited about starting to do documentaries about her causes, and for that to fund her humanitarian work. In some ways, it was a foreshadow of Harry and Meghan’s plan 25 years ago, with the one major difference that Diana didn’t see any profit in it. She was doing it as a charitable venture.”
Brown’s curt comments come as Meghan faces criticism in the wake of a new tell-all interview with the Cut earlier this week.
The former “Suits” star was slammed as a “perpetual victim” in the wake of the magazine sit-down, during which she attacked the royal family, claiming she and Harry “upset the dynamic of the hierarchy.”
Brown’s curt comments come as Meghan faces criticism in the wake of a new tell-all interview with the Cut. Campbell Addy / The Cut
The interview came just days before fans of Diana mourned the 25th anniversary of the princess’ death.
The princess was killed in a car crash in Paris Aug. 31, 1997, at 36.
Brown believes her friend would still be the biggest star in the world should she have lived, saying: “Unlike Harry and Meghan she understood having the power base of monarchy was enormously important. Today, I believe she would have had billions of followers on Instagram, and used that to the max.”
She continued: “By now, her charitable foundation would have been as big as Bill Gates’. She began that global humanitarian celebrity outreach that we went on to see with the Clooneys and Bono. She’s a real forerunner of that. It’s very tragic to know that didn’t happen.”
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