Queen told friend Meghan ‘brainwashed’ Harry, Tom Bower’s new book claims

First extracts from Tom Bower’s new book on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex suggest the Queen once told a friend “Meghan’s brainwashed Harry”, as relations between the couple and the rest of the royal family soured.

The piece, published on The Times website on Friday, claims tensions escalated between the Sussexes and the Prince and Princess of Wales prior to Harry and Meghan’s departure from the royal family – with William and Kate allegedly considering the duchess “a threat”.

Bower’s forthcoming book – Betrayal: Power, Deceit And The Fight For The Future Of The Royal Family – continues his investigation into the strained relationship between the Houses of Sussex and Windsor, four years after the publication of his bestseller Revenge: Meghan, Harry, And The War Between The Windsors.

According to Bower’s account, William and Kate believed Meghan “lamented Harry’s unlikely chances of one day being king, just as she regretted the possibility that she would never be the queen”.

“Meghan had become a divisive agent,” Bower writes.

“To please her, Harry was ignoring his old friends. He even changed his telephone number without telling his family.

“The jovial lad about town became possessed by seeking revenge.

“Increasingly, his character mirrored Meghan’s.

“Emotionally, he veered towards extremes. Simple dislikes became passionate hatred.

“‘Meghan’s brainwashed Harry’, Camilla told a friend.”

The extract released on Friday – which will also be published in The Times Magazine – also appears to suggest Harry was “shocked” by the downfall of Andrew-Mountbatten Windsor following revelations about his association with the American financier Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender.

“The unpredicted and unimagined humiliation of Andrew shocked Harry,” Bower writes.

“Rightly, Harry fears that the future King William could remove all the Sussexes’ titles and effectively banish him from Britain.”

Six years after they quit as working senior royals, the Sussexes are also reportedly facing significant setbacks, including depleted finances in the wake of the cancellation of their Netflix deal, criticism of their California wildfire visit last year as a “photo op”, and tensions around the Invictus Games.

Meghan and Harry signed a contract thought to be worth more than 100 million US dollars (£74 million) with Netflix in 2020.

They also signed a first-look deal for film and television projects, meaning that Netflix would have the first option on Harry and Meghan’s projects with their Archewell production company.

The first series of With Love, Meghan launched on Netflix in March 2025 and coincided with the unveiling of her lifestyle brand As ever – with her first products, including her raspberry jam, repeatedly promoted throughout the show.

Last week, a spokesperson for Meghan said the duchess’s brand was “ready to stand on its own” after the deal came to an end.

Netflix had partnered with Meghan’s jam-selling venture when it launched last year.

Figures showed earlier this year that the Duchess’s Netflix show failed to crack the top 1,000 most-watched programmes on the platform.

The second instalment of With Love, Meghan was the 1,124th most-watched show between July and December 2025, with two million views, according to data released by Netflix.

The Sussexes also announced last week they will visit Australia next month for a number of engagements.

Their children – Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet – will not be going with them, it is understood.