Gyles Brandreth claims Meghan Markle turned down Queen’s offer of help from Sophie, Countess of Wessex

Markle said she did a extra deep curtsy upon meeting Her Majesty, which Brandreth described as ‘embarrassing’

Royal broadcaster Gyles Brandreth has claimed Meghan Markle turned down the Queen’s offer to have Sophie, Countess of Wessex help her with royal duties.

In an interview for ITV’s Lorraine, he said the Duchess of Sussex preferred to have Prince Harry help her after she joined the royal family.

“Meghan said, ‘No, I don’t think I need that, I’ve got Harry,” Brandreth claimed to host Lorraine Kelly.

In the new tell-all Netflix documentary series Harry & Meghan, Meghan said that she struggled to adjust to life as a royal.

“I guess I started to understand very quickly that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside,” she said in the first episode of the documentary series, released on Thursday (8 December).

Also in the series, she said that she thought Prince Harry was joking when he asked her if she knew how to curtsy before meeting the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Markle said she did a especially deep curtsy to Harry’s grandmother, which Brandreth described as “mocking” and “embarrassing”.

On Friday’s (9 December) episode of Lorraine, he discussed how the Queen welcomed Markle to the royal family.

“She loved Harry,” Brandreth said of the late royal. “She loved all her grandchildren, but she loved him especially because she loved his sense of humour and I know, for a fact, that she welcomed Meghan warmly and was very keen for it to work.

He also claimed that the Queen told Meghan she could carry on with acting if she would like to, and wanted Sophie, Countess of Wessex to help her in settling in to life as a royal.

He said: “The Queen also said to Meghan ‘you’re new to this. Coming into the royal family, it’s not easy for everybody. Sophie Wessex, the last one to come in, maybe she can be a kind of mentor. She could advise you, help you.’ But Meghan said ‘no, I don’t think I need that, I’ve got Harry.’”

Harry & Meghan is on Netflix now, with the next three episodes released on Thursday 15 December.