Meghan Markle's Reaction to Princess Diana’s Death Revealed: "The Moment When..."

The tragic death of Princess Diana in 1997 affected millions worldwide, but for a teenage Meghan Markle, the loss hit surprisingly close to home. Markle had a great deal of admiration for the People's Princess long before she married Diana's younger son. Markle and her friend Suzy Ardakani used to spend hours watching films of Diana's 1981 fairytale wedding to Prince Charles when she was a child growing up in Los Angeles. Suzy's mother also handed Markle a copy of Diana: Her True Story after noticing how interested they were in the royal marriage. Markle treasured that book and kept it on her shelf for years.

Hence, Markle and her friends were devastated when news broke of Diana's fatal car crash in Paris. Royal biographer Andrew Morton captured their raw emotion in his book Meghan: A Hollywood Princess, writing, "She and her friends watched the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in early September 1997, tears coursing down their cheeks at the poignant moment when the camera zoomed in on the royal coffin." The sight of young Prince Harry's last note to his mother, simply addressed "Mummy," left an indelible mark on their hearts.

Years later, in a touching twist of fate, Markle's love story with Prince Harry would begin on what would have been Diana's 55th birthday. Harry revealed the same in his memoir Spare. "It occurred to me how uncanny, how surreal, how bizarre, that this marathon conversation [with Markle] should have begun on July 1, 2016. My mother's fifty-fifth birthday," he wrote as per People.

Moreover, Markle's childhood friend Ninaki Priddy observed, "She was always fascinated by the Royal Family. She wants to be Princess Diana 2.0." In their own ways, both women were deeply committed to helping others. Diana worked tirelessly to assist the homeless and accomplished a great deal for people in Angola. As a UN ambassador for gender equality, Markle has been an outspoken advocate for women's rights.

In 2022, Harry took Markle to visit Diana's final resting place at Althorp for the first time. He described the emotional moment in Spare: "At long last, I was bringing the girl of my dreams home to meet mum." The visit was particularly poignant as it coincided with the 25th anniversary of Diana's death. While Harry put flowers on the grave, Markle knelt down to pray and later told him she asked for 'clarity and guidance.'

According to royal expert Dickie Arbiter, Markle would have benefited much from Diana's presence if she had been alive, particularly in regards to navigating royal regulations and public perception. Patrick Jephson, Diana's former private secretary, noted that Diana possessed an 'instinctive understanding of what looked bad' and knew how to maintain the right image for the monarchy.

Morton himself believes Diana and Markle would have formed a strong bond. According to him, "She'd have seen Meghan as somebody she aspired to be herself, someone who was an articulate activist on the world stage." He added that Diana would have particularly appreciated the modern tools of social media. "And she'd have been thinking, 'I wish there'd been social media when I was around,'" he felt, as per Express.