According to a new book, Queen Camilla reportedly confided in a friend that Meghan Markle had “brainwashed” Prince Harry, exacerbating the already tense relationship between the Sussexes and the rest of the Royal Family.

Author Tom Bower provides a dramatic recounting of the family discord, suggesting that tensions began escalating merely weeks after Harry and Meghan’s honeymoon in the summer of 2018.

The book describes a supposedly amiable teatime gathering between Harry and his brother that allegedly ended with Meghan sharply telling Prince William, “If you don’t mind, get your finger out of my face.”

This confrontation occurred amid growing concerns within the Royal Family that Harry’s behavior was shifting under Meghan’s influence, including his discreet change of mobile phone number.

“Meghan’s brainwashed Harry,” Camilla reportedly remarked to a friend as the conflict grew more intense.

The alleged comment underscores the family’s worry that the once carefree prince was drifting away from his relatives and the life he had known before meeting Meghan, the former Suits star.

William had harboured doubts about Meghan long before the couple’s wedding, warning Harry that the relationship was moving too fast, it’s claimed.

‘It’s gone too quickly,’ the future king is said to have told his younger brother about his budding romance.

Queen Camilla and Meghan Markle in May 2018. In a dramatic account of the breakdown in relations, author Tom Bower claims tensions between the Queen and the Duchess of Sussex were already spiralling just weeks after Harry and Meghan returned from their honeymoon in the summer of 2018

Prince Harry in Jordan last month. The clash between Meghan and Harry came amid mounting concern within the Royal Family that Harry was changing under Meghan’s influence

His misgivings were reportedly shared by William’s wife Catherine, the Princess of Wales, who Bower claims was also wary of Meghan’s influence. 

According to the book, serialised in The Times, both William and Kate believed Harry – who had struggled following the death of his mother Diana and had battled issues with drink, drugs and his mental health – was particularly vulnerable.

While Meghan’s ambition captivated Harry, the family regarded her as a potential destabilising force.

The author claims that William and Catherine suspected Meghan was unhappy about the limits of Harry’s future within the monarchy, and ‘regretted’ the fact that she would probably never become queen.

Instead of accepting the traditional role of the royal ‘spare’, Harry pushed back against palace control and distanced himself from his old circle of friends.

The prince, who had been known for his boisterous, boozy, fun-loving ways, became ‘possessed by seeking revenge’, Bower writes.

Since the Sussexes quit royal duties and moved to California in 2020, they have become isolated from Britain while Meghan has focused on building a commercial brand in the United States.

At a recent Netflix event promoting its upcoming shows, Meghan’s new lifestyle series With Love, Meghan, reportedly failed to receive a mention from the streaming giant’s head of content.

Bower also recounts how the couple attempted to boost their public image during devastating wildfires in California by visiting a Pasadena soup kitchen and sharing footage of the trip on social media.

But critics accused them of staging a publicity stunt, with Hollywood film-maker Justine Bateman branding the couple ‘ambulance chasers’ and ‘disaster tourists’.

Harry reportedly hopes that his father Prince Charles will open the 2027 Invictus Games, the international sporting event for wounded veterans he founded in 2014, which is due to take place in Birmingham.

But with the family still deeply strained, Bower suggests such a reconciliation remains unlikely.

A spokesman for Harry and Meghan said: ‘This is someone who has publicly stated, “the monarchy in fact depends on actually obliterating the Sussexes from our state of life,” language that speaks for itself.

‘He has made a career out of constructing ever more elaborate theories about people he does not know and has never met.

‘Those interested in facts will look elsewhere – those seeking deranged conspiracy and melodrama know exactly where to find him.’